Christmas Bliss
by PianoMan5
Summary: When Phineas accidentally discovers a not-so-private secret about Isabella, what will he plan to do with and for her before Christmas? A jam-packed Phinbella fluff and romance story filled with an Astronomy project, a dance, school, Christmas, and a million other things left to be discovered. Read to find out! Actual length: 36,700 words.
1. Chapter 1: Astronomy Projects

**Here's the Christmas story I've been planning guys! Now, as you can see, I've posted the first chapter only 1 day before Christmas, so it looks like you guys may be reading some fluffy Phinbella stuff up until April next year (if you know my updating trends)! But I think you'll all enjoy it anyways, and like I said, this story is going to be even more jam-packed with Phinbella fluff and romance than the last one. I hope you like it!**

**A special thanks to AceOfKnaves for helping me with the clothing description in this chapter, I'm horrible at fashion but he helped me make it sound good.**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Astronomy Projects

* * *

"See you later, Ferb!" Phineas called to his green-haired brother as they walked into the chilly morning air.

It was nearly Christmas, and Phineas was finishing his last few days at Danville High before the end of the year. Ferb was doing the same, only he had skipped school and was now attending Danville University instead. Ferb waved goodbye to Phineas and got into his self-designed, tricked out red Ferrari, then sped away to attend his college courses.

Despite the cold temperature, Phineas remained optimistic as he walked to the bus stop at the end of the block. As he walked there, he, as usual, saw his best friend waiting for the bus to come. With Ferb going to college, Phineas and Isabella were the only ones at this stop, and he had made a goal to make her laugh every day while they waited. He had not failed yet.

"Hey Isabella! Whatcha doin?" Phineas asked, walking up to her. She giggled and turned to him.

"Hi Phineas! I'm just waiting for the bus to come, like usual." she said, teetering back and forth on her feet. Phineas walked up to and stood by her and they patiently waited for the bus to come. Then Phineas caught a whiff of something pretty. He breathed in; whatever it was, it smelled amazing.

"Do you smell that? It smells really good, something like flowers and vanilla."

"Oh, do you mean my shampoo?" Isabella asked, sniffing as well, "Its brand new, I just used it for the first time this morning."

"That's you? Wow, you smell reeaallyy good."

Isabella blushed but said nothing, and blushed even more when Phineas leaned over to smell her better. She laughed when Phineas put his gigantic nose into her hair and inhaled.

"Phineas, get away from me!" she giggled, and she ran away from him down the snow-covered sidewalk.

"But you smell soooo good!" Phineas yelled back, chasing her with his nose in the air. She laughed some more and continued to run, but they were eventually interrupted by the honking of the bus that they had just run away from. Isabella stopped, but Phineas kept getting closer.

Being a cheerleader as well as a former Fireside girl, Isabella was very agile. So as Phineas ran up to her, she gathered her strength, then jumped, doing a perfect backflip over Phineas' head.

"Ha!" she yelled, turning and sprinting to the bus and away from Phineas.

"How do you do that with your backpack on?" Phineas asked incredulously as he tried to catch up to her fast pace.

"How do you break the laws of physics daily?" Isabella countered, slowing to let Phineas catch up.

"Touché," Phineas said, now having caught up to Isabella, and he stopped to let Isabella board the bus first. They walked down the crowded bus and would normally have no chance of sitting next to each other, but a seat towards the back was always reserved Phineas and Isabella. As they passed, they got lots of attention from the other riders.

"Hey Phineas!"

"Oh hi, Isabella!"

"Hiiiii, Phineas!"

"That flip was awesome, Isabella!"

Hey guys, thanks!" Phineas and Isabella said in unison to satisfy the large group of kids who always greeted them. Through the years of building daily inventions that amazed all, the gang had grown very popular. Phineas and Isabella in particular were loved because of their emanating optimism, kindness, and flat out good looks.

When they got to their seats, they sat down and took off their coats. As a Junior in high school, Phineas's clothing had changed a lot. He now wore a white tee-shirt with a light, long-sleeved, orange pullover jacket, and some brown khaki pants to finish it off.

Isabella had also gone through some major fashion changes over the years. Today she was wearing long white jeans and a fitting pink shirt with a flower on it. She still kept the pink bow, but it was a much smaller clip-on now and was off to one side.

The teenagers' bodies had changed a lot too. Phineas was now a lot taller than Isabella, at a towering 6'1, although Isabella, at 5'9, was still a lot taller than average girl. She had also grown her hair out slightly longer and had gained noticeable curves. Besides height, Phineas hadn't changed too much, but hours of construction had toned his body and had broadened his shoulders.

When they were situated, Phineas and Isabella began to talk about what they had for breakfast, if they did the homework from English class, and other small things. Eventually, Isabella, still possessing her ever-building crush on Phineas, decided to give Phineas yet _another _hint that she liked him.

"I'm cold, Phineas," she said, feigning a shiver. She turned to him and tried to chatter her teeth together.

"You could put your coat on again," Phineas offered.

Isabella sighed and muttered "Never mind..." in a downcast manner. He was supposed to put his arm around her or something like that! "Well, I shouldn't get overly disappointed," she thought, "He does this almost every day anyways."

Right about then, the bus arrived at Danville High, and as kids came piling out of the bus, the duo could see the rest of their group waiting for them outside. Most of the same friends had stayed together up to later years in high school, and several of the former Fireside girls had come to join. Now, the group usually included Phineas, Isabella, Baljeet, Ginger, Buford, Milly, Ferb (sometimes), Gretchen, and Adyson.

"Are you guys crazy?!" Phineas exclaimed as they walked over to the gang, "It must be absolute zero here! Why don't you guys wait for us inside instead?"

"Because I was trying to prove that I'm the toughest here by staying outside the longest, Dinner Bell, that's why!" Buford said gruffly.

"But you're right," Adyson said, "I'm freezing, let's go get warmed up." And with that, everyone began to walk inside, followed by Buford to make sure he was the last one in, until-

DING! DING! DING! The electronic school bell let out a few chimes before some Michael Bublé Christmas music started playing in the hallway. Shouts of surprise and amazement lit up in the hallways; the music playing between periods was brand new to the school.

"Whoa, where'd the music come from?" Gretchen asked.

"The bell rang already? But we just got here!" Phineas said, accidentally ignoring Gretchen. "The bus didn't get here late, did it?"

"Yeah it did, because you were chasing me!" Isabella said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Well gotta run guys, and listen on the announcements for your answer, Gretchen!" And with that, Phineas took off, speed walking down the crowded hallway towards the front office.

It turns out, due to Phineas' genius ideas and immense popularity, that he was elected both Junior class president and school class president, even though the latter was not even allowed. At a nearly unanimous school vote of 98%, the principal decided to let the rules slide for a year and let Phineas become the school's class president. He had made a wise decision, because Phineas was the greatest leader the school had ever had.

Phineas ran inside, muttered a quick hello to the receptionists, then grabbed a microphone and turned on the loudspeaker.

"Good morning, Danville High!" he spoke into the microphone, "Today is Friday, December 14, and today is also the day that the school unveils a little new surprise! Do you guys like the new music?"

Even from the enclosed office, enthusiastic shouts of "Yeah!" could be heard from all sides of the school.

"Well, with Christmas drawing closer, we can't go by without some dancing and partying. The Christmas Eve dance is coming up, coincidentally on Christmas Eve, and it is boys-choice, so guys, get asking! Hope you guys have an awesome day today!"

With that finished, Phineas left the office to go to his first period Astronomy class. Because he did morning announcements every day, the teacher, Mr. Matthews, was fine with Phineas coming in late and usually postponed the lesson until he got there.

When Phineas walked in, he was bombarded with questions and comments about the new musical speaker system.

"That music is so awesome, Phineas!"

"Way to go!"

"Were you the one that set it up?"

Phineas, as usual, did not want to take credit for his work.

"Not really, you shouldn't be thanking me," he said, trying to evade the success.

"Was it your idea?" someone else shouted out.

"Uhh... well I bet a lot of people wanted it," he weakly responded, feeling a little strange standing at the front of the classroom.

Mr. Matthews finally stood up, to the relief of Phineas. Or so he thought.

"Class, Phineas is just being _very _modest." he spoke as the students quieted down, "Phineas came up with the idea, brought it to the school board's attention, got approval, and then went and installed every last speaker, all on his own time. So let's give him a round of applause!"

Cheers and clapping exploded in the room, leaving Phineas a little embarrassed and trying to cover up.

"It wasn't my- I didn't- You shouldn't-" he tried to say, but everybody knew Phineas was just being humble and cheered anyways.

"Alright, settle down class," Mr. Matthews said after a few seconds, "Phineas, you can take your seat."

Phineas shook his head, then took his seat next to Isabella, who was luckily in the same first period as him.

"Great job, Phineas! You should have told us earlier!" Isabella whispered to him, touching his arm.

"Ah, but then it wouldn't be a surprise!" he replied, smiling at Isabella before turning his attention to the teacher.

"So you should have learned by now," Mr. Matthews began, "that constellations are most visible during specific times of the year. It just so happens that the famous constellation 'Orion' is best seen during the winter. The stars are said to look like a warrior, ready to fight a horrendous monster. I have come up with a fun project -" groans were heard throughout the class "- that is to be done in pairs." Isabella suddenly perked up. "You and your partner will get to locate the constellation of Orion, sketch it out, and write a short report on its history. This will not be due until after Christmas break is over, so you should have plenty of time."

Isabella's hand shot up.

"Do we get to pick our partners, Mr. Matthews?"

"I wasn't planning on it-" Mr. Matthews was cut off as the majority of the class began asking "Please?" and whining about it.

"...Well I guess you can pick, but only because I'm in a good mood from the Christmas music. You can all thank Phineas." he finished. More cheers erupted from the room.

"Wanna be my partner, Phineas?" Isabella quickly asked amidst the commotion.

"For sure!" he responded, "I was gonna ask you!"

"Yes!" she shouted, and Phineas smiled. It was smart of Isabella to act then, because right away, three other girls lined up and each asked Phineas if they wanted to be his partner, and each walked away with their heads down when they realized he was already taken.

After a few minutes, everyone had paired up, so Mr. Matthews called for the class's attention again.

"Now it will be you and your partner's job to meet up one of these nights to locate Orion and sketch it out. I suggest you bring warm clothing - it will be very cold out! Now, let's get to our real lesson. Today we're going to talk about neutron stars..."

~~Lunch~~

"How about we do the Lion King instead?" Ginger suggested.

Isabella and the other girls from the group were sitting in the cafeteria, trying to come up with something to watch for the movie day they were planning. They were planning on inviting the boys, but none had asked yet.

"Maybe, but it's a bit childish," Adyson said.

"And not really romantic either," added Isabella.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Isabella," said a smiling Gretchen, "I'll have my house set up so you and Phineas can be close together no matter the movie."

"I just wish he'd finally catch on," Isabella said, sighing.

"Wish who would catch on, Isabella?"

Isabella jumped and let out a shriek. She turned around and blushed when she saw Phineas standing right behind her, along with Ferb (who had stopped by from college).

"Phi-Phineas? How much of that did you hear?"

"I just got here, what are you talking about?"

Isabella sighed in relief, she had to be more careful. She scooted over so that Phineas could sit down next to her.

"Um, we were talking about... Well, Gretchen's having a movie day tomorrow at her house, and I wanted to know if you want to come with me?"

"Oh that sounds like fun -" Phineas paused. "Wait, tomorrow?"

"Yeah, at around noon. Can you make it?"

"Sounds great, but I'm afraid I can't."

Isabella's smile dropped. He couldn't come with her at all? She should have checked to make sure Phineas could have before!

"Oh, why not?" Isabella tried to hide the disappointment from her voice.

"Well, remember when we climbed Danville mountain a few years ago when Baljeet was having friendship-ish problems with Buford?" he paused for Isabella to nod. "It turns out we took the easy way up, and there is a much more challenging way to get to the top. There are even some caves near the top that are only accessible that way!"

"We did the same hike for our last hurrah as a Fireside girls troop," Milly said, "The view of the city and those caves were amazing!"

"Sweet! Ferb and I have decided to tackle it head on during the winter, and we've been planning for nearly a month now. But it's a pity we can't make it to the movie party, that would have been fun."

"Does that mean Ferb can't come either?" Gretchen asked slowly. Ferb frowned and nodded.

"Well that kind of defeats the purpose." Gretchen muttered to Isabella.

Isabella then made the connection that Phineas and Ferb would be hiking their same hiking trip from only one year ago. She sucked in a breath and began to worry, that was when she and the other Fireside girls had-

"Are you okay, Isabella?" Phineas asked, touching her shoulder. "You look concerned."

"Oh! Umm, it's just that... it's really cold out, and I don't want you - or Ferb - to get hurt while climbing. That's all."

"Don't worry about us, Isabella, we'll have coats and everything to keep us warm. And since when has a little snow stopped us?"

"Just be careful, okay?" Isabella tried to show that she felt better, which was true, but that wasn't the only thing she was worried about.

"You bet," said Phineas, smiling.

Suddenly, the electronic bell rang, and more Christmas music filled the hallways. It was time for the last period, so everyone said goodbye to go to class. Isabella and Phineas gathered up their textbooks and left the lunchroom. They always walked together after lunch because, on both days, they shared their last period.

"So Phineas?" Isabella asked flirtatiously as they walked, "Are you planning to asking a girl to the Christmas Eve Dance?" She batted her eyes at him, trying to look cute.

"I haven't really thought about it yet," he replied, "But probably, I just don't know who to ask. What about you? Have gotten asked yet?"

Isabella was about to say no, when one of the guys from the basketball team, Mike, walked over and greeted the pair.

"'Sup, Phineas," he greeted, "Mind if I ask Isabella a question real quick?"

"Sure, that's fine Mike," Phineas replied.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to the Christmas Eve dance, Isabella. What do you say?" Isabella wasn't surprised, as she had been asked to several dances before, and had even gone with other people to be courteous. But this time, Isabella was determined to go with Phineas. She also felt better when the smile on Phineas' face was instantly replaced with a frown.

"That's sweet of you, but no thanks, I'm already waiting for _somebody_- " she leaned towards Phineas and smiled at him; this couldn't get any more obvious " -to ask me."

"Oh... well that's cool, guess I'll see you around," and Mike walked away, looking disappointed.

"Oh, you already want somebody to ask you?" Phineas asked, "Who?" Isabella stared at him intensely for a second, then she literally face-palmed.

"You're hopeless, Phineas," she mumbled into her hand, not caring what he thought. Phineas was going to say something, but then _another _person came to see them as they walked to their class.

"Hi Phineas!" a girl named Jessica said, smiling widely at him and not bothering to greet Isabella. Isabella did not like this competition - Phineas was hers!

"Oh hey Jessica, what's up?"

"Well you know that dance coming up?" she paused for Phineas to nod. "I know that it's supposed to be a boy's choice dance, but I really wanted to go with you. D-Do you want to go to the dance with me, Phineas?"

Isabella's mouth dropped open, that wasn't fair!

"She's not allowed to do that!" she thought viciously.

"Ummmm, well why not? Sure, I'd love to go with you, Jessica," Phineas answered, much to Isabella's chagrin.

"Awesome!" Jessica exclaimed, giving Phineas a little hug before running off.

Isabella was fuming, she looked about ready to seriously injure Jessica. Her teeth were clenched together and her face was red and boiling with anger.

"Well that was easy, I guess I don't have to find a girl to go with after all," Phineas said nonchalantly as they walked into the classroom.

SNAP! Isabella was gripping her textbook so tightly that she accidentally broke the whole thing in two. Phineas jumped and looked at her.

"Whoa! … Are you alright Isabella?" Phineas asked, looking very surprised, as they took their seats in AP US History.

"... Peachy," she responded forcefully. Now she had no chance of going with Phineas! Sighing, Isabella decided that she would just skip this dance. "If Jessica hadn't cheated, or if I would have just asked him right away, everything would have been perfect!" she thought angrily.

Isabella sighed again as she turned her attention to the teacher; now she had nothing but an astronomy project and a textbook fee to look forward to.

* * *

**There's the first chapter. If you read my last story while I posted it, you know how great I am at updating frequently *sarcasm*. Sorry about that, I'll try to be a lot faster now!**

**Hey, we survived the end of the Mayan Calendar! Who knew? (Or better question, who _didn't _know?)**

**Please review if you liked it or hated it, they make me happy! I want harsh criticism, that's what makes me a better writer so I'll gladly accept it.**


	2. Chapter 2: Hiking Accidents

**Well here's chapter two! Hope you guys like it! ****And thank you guys for the quick support for this story! There are already 12 favorites in only 3 days, that is awesome!**

**I'm trying to get rid of the 'aka PhinbellaFanatic' part of my penname, but it says that "Piano-Man" has already been taken, so I might have to change my name to "PianoMan6" or something instead.**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Hiking Accidents

* * *

It was Saturday morning, and Phineas and Ferb were going through the final checklist of things they needed to hike Danville Mountain. In a few minutes, they would be heading to the mountain to begin their ascent.

"Alright Ferb, looks like we're all ready to go!" Phineas said excitedly as they got on their jackets and other snow gear. Ferb took out their latest invention, named the atomic storage stick, which was a small object similar in shape and appearance to a flash drive. He pointed it at the mass of equipment they were bringing and clicked a little button. The device projected a spotlight onto the equipment and sucked all of it into it and into a de-molecularized state, providing handy and lightweight storage for the long trek ahead.

With that, the brothers headed out to Ferb's covered Ferrari and started towards Danville Mountain. The boys started a conversation about their latest building ideas, which was mostly led by Phineas, with the occasional body gesture from Ferb.

"And then we can adjust the tractor beam so that it-" Phineas was interrupted by his phone ringing. He got it out and checked the Caller ID: Jessica Miggins. He opened the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Hi Jessica, how's it going?"

Ferb took his eyes off the road to look at Phineas strangely.

"Oh hi Phineas!" Jessica gushed through the speaker. "I was just calling you to tell you a bit more about the dance. We're going to dinner and maybe a movie before the dance, if that's okay with you."

"That sounds way fun!" Phineas was interrupted by another call; this time it was from Isabella. No offense to Jessica, but he would rather talk to his best friend.

"Hey gotta go! You can tell me more about it next week, see ya!" Phineas said. Jessica muttered a goodbye and Phineas was about to accept the other call when Ferb stopped him.

"Who's Jessica?" Ferb asked, almost warily.

"She asked me to the Christmas Eve dance," Phineas replied, "But I gotta take this call now."

"Hello?"

"Hi Phineas! Watcha doin?" Isabella's voice came from the speaker, even more enthusiastic than the previous caller.

"Hi Isabella, we're just driving to Danville Mountain like I told you yesterday. I'm so excited to go explore those caves at the top!"

"Yeah, about that," Isabella's voice suddenly sounded nervous. "Those caves weren't actually that cool, you and Ferb can probably skip them if you want to."

"Are you kidding Isabella? The other Fireside girls told me it was awesome in there, and that's where Ferb and I are going to eat lunch!" Phineas wasn't sure why Isabella didn't want him to go in the caves.

"Really?" she said worriedly. "Um, well I guess you guys can explore the caves, I just … don't want you to get hurt, Phineas." Now Phineas understood that she was just worried about their safety.

"Don't worry, Isabella," he said reassuringly through the small receiver, "Ferb and I have a bunch of emergency medical stuff with us and lots of warm snow gear, so we will be protected."

"Are you sure? Maybe you guys could just-"

"Isabella, I promise you we won't get hurt. You have my word."

"...Ok Phineas, I trust you." Even talking through the phone, Phineas could tell he had comforted Isabella enough to make her smile.

Ferb pulled into an empty parking lot near the base of the mountain. Nobody but Phineas and Ferb would attempt Danville Mountain in the winter, so they were the only ones there.

"Oh, we're here. I'll see you later Isabella, and remember my promise!"

"Ok, Bye!"

With that, Phineas shut his phone, and the brothers began their walk to the huge mountain. Unlike the other side, this side of Danville Mountain had an evergreen forest at the bottom which thinned out as the elevation increased. The peak was so high up that it went into the clouds, and the caves were not much lower.

When they reached the bottom, there was too much snow to see the trail clearly anymore. Fortunately, Phineas and Ferb had expected this.

"You know what to do, Ferb!" Phineas said. Ferb pulled out atomic storage stick and clicked another button on it. A light again came from the device, and two pairs of special goggles materialized in front of their eyes. The goggles had a GPS on them, which showed whoever was wearing them where the trail was, and where they were on the mountain.

After the teenagers had adjusted their goggles, they started up the steep trail that wound through the thick forest and up the huge mountain. It was a good thing they had worn their extra-tractive boots; the snow would have made hiking impossible for ordinary boots. Even with the boots, Phineas and Ferb still had to catch each other more than a couple of times.

Right as the duo emerged from a tree-sheltered part of the trail into the open, a strong gust of wind picked up and pushed hard against the boy. Phineas was blown off his feet and nearly went tumbling down the mountain, but was tackled to the ground by Ferb first.

"Whoa, thanks Ferb, you saved me," Phineas said thankfully after the wind had calmed down. Ferb gave a thumbs-up and pulled his brother up, and they continued up the trail, which was getting to be too deep in snow.

The boys waddled through the snow to a fallen log and sat down. With an unspoken agreement, Ferb got two pairs of snowshoes from the storage stick so that they could walk on top of the snow. Phineas and Ferb slid on the shoes and then continued up the mountain.

By now, they had risen above the treeline and were nearing the peak of Danville Mountain. But here was where the chosen pathway became tricky. Now they had to rock-climb rather than walking, which could be very precarious when the rocks were covered in snow and ice. Luckily, both Phineas and Ferb managed to climb the rocks without any major difficulties. It got more difficult as they strayed into wispy clouds, but they could do it together.

At the same time, the brothers grabbed one last rock hold and hoisted themselves up onto the very peak of Danville Mountain. It was cold and windy, but Phineas and Ferb supported each other to maintain their balance. They stood up and gazed down at the Tri-State Area far below. The cloud they were in made it harder to see, but it was still possible.

"Hey Ferb, there's our house!" Phineas said, squinting and pointing at a little speck in the suburbs of Danville. They could see all their friends' houses, although it was too far away to see much anything else. Ferb pointed to Danville downtown; he had found Mr. Slushy Burgers, where Candace's newlywed husband Jeremy had used to work. There was Danville High too, and the awkwardly-shaped purple skyscraper that always reminded Phineas of Perry for no discernable reason.

As they observed the massive expanse, Ferb's stomach let out a huge rumble.

"Looks like you're ready for lunch." Phineas said, grinning. "Let's go eat in the caves so we don't freeze to death up here."

Ferb agreed and the two of them took the short trek down the mountain to where the caves were. At the mouth of the cave, Ferb pulled a few things out of his atomic storage stick, namely their lunches, as well as flashlights to explore the cave with. They flicked the flashlights on and ventured into the dark cave.

Almost immediately, the howling of the wind was silenced, and the snow quickly disappeared under their feet. Ferb's stomach growled again, so the boys took out their lunches and began to eat as they walked. After only a few minutes, they made it to the end of the tunnel, and to the one and only room out of the whole cave. Ferb said he needed to work on something, so the boys separated to explore.

The room was a huge cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites, among other rock formations. Some of the stalactites had met with the stalagmites after thousands of years of constant dripping, resulting in huge pillars throughout the cave. Even then, they could still hear the slow but constant drippings of water echo through the room.

Towards the back of the huge room, Phineas spied some writing on the wall. He took a closer look - it looked like a sort of informal log of everyone who had accomplished the task of climbing Danville Mountain. Names and short, inspirational messages were scratched into, or drawn on, the side of the wall or drawn on.

"Carpe diem," one said, which made Phineas smile; that was his treasured motto.

Phineas took another bite out of his ham-and-cheese sandwich and shone his flashlight to the left, only to encounter a different surprising phrase.

_Fireside Girls Troop 46321_

"Well isn't that serendipitous, I found this out of all the writing in the cave," he thought.

As he read the title, Phineas remembered that the former Fireside girls had explored this cave only a year before. "This must be their final accomplishment," he thought, smiling.

Below the title were a couple hearts of varying sizes etched into the wall, with things written in them. What were the Fireside girls doing? Phineas was going to call Ferb over to let him check it out, but a few words caught his eye first.

"Gretchen + ...Ferb?!" Phineas exclaimed out loud. Fortunately, Ferb was on the other side of the cave, too far away to hear. "I guess I'd better keep that a secret," Phineas said to himself mischievously before turning to the other hearts.

"Ginger + Baljeet, Isabella + Phineas, Milly + Buford," Phineas read aloud, not really paying attention to what they said.

"Good for them!" he thought, walking away from the hearts on the wall. "I hope their crushes ask them to that dance!"

Phineas took another bite of his sandwich and started to examine a cave formation, but suddenly stopped chewing.

The sandwich fell to the ground.

Phineas slowly turned his head around. He slowly backtracked to the hearts and located the biggest one. Phineas again read the elegantly drawn words inside of the heart in utter silence.

_Isabella + Phineas_

Phineas's eyes popped out as he read the words over and over again. Did Isabella … have a crush … on _him_? Phineas's mouth dropped open as he stared at the wall.

"Its probably just a coincidence, I mean, there are tons of Phineas's and Isabella's I know," Phineas thought, trying to rationalize his discovery with false facts. But the truth was just too obvious.

Phineas thought back to all of his memories with Isabella. She always seemed to be a _closer _friend than the others, sometimes even closer than Ferb. And she would always be there to comfort him, and she seemed to made an effort to see him every single day.

"And she touches me and gives me hugs almost every day too," Phineas thought, finally closing his mouth. And she had always seemed enthusiastic when they were at the bus stop, and yesterday morning she was … was Isabella _blushing _yesterday morning?

As Phineas thought about it, he realized that Isabella _always _seemed to be blushing. And just yesterday, she had gotten mad enough to break her textbook in two right after Jessica had asked him to the dance. He thought back to some of the things she had said that he had never understood.

_"You had me at our grandchildren."_

_"So, would you like to go to the Night of the Falling Stars Girls' Choice dance tonight?"_

_"Are you sure there's nothing, or no one, that's more adorable?"_

_"That helmet looks so manly."_

_"How about a romantic dinner for two? Wanna sip, Phineas?"_

_"Well, that's not the Phineas Flynn that I fell in... to this sit-uation with."_

Realization hit him and Phineas's mouth dropped open again. Isabella had liked, or maybe even loved, Phineas for _years_. Why she hadn't given up on him yet he had no idea, and the thought of how much disappointment she must have gone through hit him hard.

"I've ignored Isabella," Phineas said in a shaky voice, "Every day, for _seven years_."

Phineas felt awful. He had rarely, if ever, returned any feelings to her. Phineas was going to fix this, somehow. But what was he going to do? Did he like Isabella back?

Phineas decided he would think about it on the way back. He left the hearts and searched around the huge cavern until he saw another light, which had to be Ferb.

Ferb was performing a scientific experiment with some of the stalactites and the liquid that dripped from them. When he saw Phineas, he sucked his lab equipment into the storage stick.

"Just finished up a college project. Ready to go?"

Phineas could only nod, so the two of them found the tunnel and walked back to the snowy outdoors. The clouds were gone now and replaced by a sunny day, which meant they had been in the cave for a while. Ferb got out his snowboard and Phineas's skis, and they spent a couple minutes changing yet again into the proper boots and getting them on. Ferb noticed the Phineas's unusual silence, but decided not to ask.

When they were ready, Phineas and Ferb set off, skiing or snowboarding down the more spacious and snowier parts of the mountain. Being a man of action, Ferb would often do flips and tricks off of natural jumps, and even rode down a fallen log. Phineas would have been doing the same thing, but he had too much on his mind.

"I definitely love her as a friend, but as more than a friend?" Phineas thought as he skied down the slopes. He he had always thought that Isabella was really pretty, but he had never looked at her in that way. But as he pictured her in his mind: her silky hair, her elegant, athletic figure, her deep blue eyes...

WHAM! Ferb smacked into Phineas at a high speed, making them both lose their balance and come tumbling to a stop. Phineas was confused but was still caught up in his thoughts.

"You nearly skied off a cliff, Phineas," Ferb said, sounding slightly peeved. "Are you okay? You've been acting strange ever since we left the cave."

"I guess I really do think she's beautiful," Phineas thought, not really hearing Ferb. "But what would it be like to date Isabella?"

Phineas began weighing the pros and cons of Isabella and a possible future relationship.

"Let's see... she's cute, nice, caring, loving, pretty," Phineas realized he was repeating himself, but Isabella was good enough for repetitions. "...Athletic, a cheerleader, a former fireside girl, smart, my best friend, optimistic, hot … scratch that, that's derogatory … but its true, she has a beautiful voice, is easy to talk to..." the list went on for miles.

He then tried to think up some negative things about Isabella. "Well, she's … strong-willed? No, I like that about her..." Phineas racked his brain, but he couldn't come up with a single reason why not to date Isabella. Then it dawned on him.

"I think I _do _like her back," Phineas said aloud, with Ferb looking at him confusedly.

"Yeah, I want to date Isabella! Now I just have to tell her," he thought ecstatically. Phineas smiled, his optimism was back.

Phineas then caught up to the present. He finally processed what Ferb had said moments ago, that Ferb very well may have just saved his life.

"Oh! Uh, thanks Ferb! I owe you one! Now let's get down the mountain!"

With that Phineas sped down the mountain, new determination for Isabella pumping through his veins. Ferb was still confused, but decided not to push it. He hadn't caught what Phineas had said. At least Phineas was back to normal.

* * *

**So it wasn't as much of a physical accident but rather an accident that Phineas happened to stumble upon the Fireside Girls' Writing. What will he do about it next chapter?**

**Guest Review Responses:**

**toolazytologinXP: Merry Christmas to you too!**

**Genemelene14: Well I hope that wasn't too long of a wait.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Split-Second Decision

**Next up is ... Chapter 3!** **For those of you who want to follow my story, I'm going to try to update weekly on Friday or Saturday, so you can check back then. Of course, I'll probably fail miserably at this, but I'll make an extra effort to do so!**

**This is the first of many chapters of a Christmas story to be posted way out of the Christmas season, but you guys asked for it!**

**Also, I finally changed my name from "Piano-Man aka PhinbellaFanatic" to "PianoMan5"! I would have chosen "Piano-Man", but it's taken :(**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb _yet_.**

* * *

Chapter 3: A Split-Second Decision

* * *

After saying goodbye to Ferb, Phineas walked to the bus stop in the chilly Monday morning air. Over the weekend, he had solidified his decision that he liked Isabella back, and he was planning on telling her sometime during the day.

_Maybe I'll just do it right now, _thought Phineas, and a little anxiety started building up in him. He knew, almost without a doubt, that Isabella had liked him for a very long time, but it was still a little worrisome to confess his newly discovered feelings to her.

Phineas began gathering courage, but when he got to the bus stop, Isabella was nowhere to be seen. He stood by the street for a second and looked around, but nobody came. In a minute, the bus pulled up, and Phineas disappointedly boarded it without Isabella.

He was, as usual, greeted by many kids, and Phineas half-heartedly mumbled hello's back to them. He sat down, alone for once in his seat, still unsure of where Isabella was.

_I'll text her and ask, _he thought, and Phineas pulled out his phone.

_Hey, where r u?_

He sent the message, and almost immediately got a reply.

_At the orthodontist :) See you at school :)_

Now Phineas understood why Isabella wasn't here. Sighing, he decided he would have to wait until lunch or later to tell Isabella.

_It's going to be a long day, _he thought, leaning back on the rigid bus seat.

~~Lunch~~

Although Phineas was a little disappointed that he couldn't tell Isabella what he had learned in the caves, the morning was not quite as slow as expected. Only an hour after getting to school, Phineas was excused by Ferb to go to a city council meeting to vote on several issues, including what to do with the crocodiles in the sewers. They also grabbed some slushy dogs at the Googleplex mall and discussed some concerns of their latest project, an electronic book that could be used to read any text on the planet. Needless to say, Phineas was feeling a lot better by the time he returned to school near the end of lunch.

As Phineas and Ferb walked to their usual lunch table, they saw their friends sitting and talking. Ferb normally ate with his highschool friends, even though he had a different set of friends at college. Baljeet was helping Buford with Chemistry homework in exchange for a wedgie-free day (yes, Baljeet was still Buford's nerd). The girls, aside from Isabella, were talking about the New Year's Eve Dance.

"Hey gang!" Phineas greeted, taking a seat on the opposite side of Isabella. Ferb waved to the group and sat next to Gretchen.

From the discussion, Phineas learned that Ferb had asked Gretchen to the dance and Baljeet had asked Ginger, and both had received a yes. Upon hearing this, he smiled, remembering the other girls' hearts in the cave. Phineas wished he could ask Isabella, but then gloomily remembered that he had already accepted Jessica's invitation. He would still go with her to the dance to be courteous, but he would make sure that nothing would amount from it.

The conversation then shifted to an upcoming activity that the gang was still planning. Everybody had been wanting to have a ski day at the local resort, and the weather report predicted that Friday was the perfect day to do it.

"Can you make it this time, Phineas?" Isabella asked hopefully, trying to avoid any interference by asking early on.

"Aww, no I can't! Our family is going to Europe to visit our grandparents Thursday morning, and we're not getting back until Sunday night!" Phineas answered, sounding flustered.

Isabella frowned; this was the second time in a row that Phineas couldn't make it!

"...Fine, Phineas, but you can't back out of our next activity, or else!" Isabella threatened jokingly.

"Okay, Isabella, because I already missed the movie day, I have to go with you wherever you want when we get back. Fair enough?"

Isabella contemplated for a second before smiling and nodding her head.

"How was the movie, anyways?" Phineas asked.

"Pretty good, I guess," answered Adyson.

"But it would have been more fun if you guys were there," Gretchen said, looking at Ferb.

"What about your hike? Did you visit the caves?" Isabella asked, worry clouding her eyes like the last Friday.

"Oh yeah, they were great! We ate lunch while we were exploring them!" Phineas enthusiastically responded. Isabella gulped.

"You-you didn't find anything … interesting, did you?"

Phineas smiled, pretty sure he knew what Isabella was referring to. But he wanted to tell Isabella that he liked her when they had more privacy, so he decided to mess with her a little first.

"As a matter of fact, we did! I found something _really intriguing _on the back wall in the big cavern!" Isabella paled and held her breath; Phineas almost laughed at her reaction but barely stifled it. She waited for him to elaborate, but Phineas said nothing.

"What did you find?" she asked anxiously with wide eyes, looking like she was going into a worried frenzy. This time Phineas really did laugh.

"There was this huge pillar right next to the wall that was colored dark red from the elements in it. It was really cool!" Isabella audibly sighed in relief and closed her eyes. Phineas snickered, although he did feel a little guilty for scaring Isabella.

_That was kind of mean, maybe I shouldn't confuse her so much, _he thought as Milly spoke up.

"What about the top of Danville Mountain? Did you guys get a good view?" she asked.

"Yeah, we were in a cloud, but everything was still visible, even Isabella's and our houses!" Phineas remarked, looking apologetically towards Isabella. She wouldn't understand, of course, but he felt better anyways.

Just then, the bell rang, and the gang said their goodbyes and split up to go to their last periods.

"So did you guys stay safe during the hike?" she asked, trying to start a conversation as they walked to their English class.

"Mostly, other than when Ferb had to save my life once or twice," he answered.

_"What?!" _Isabella exclaimed, looking shocked. She tightly grabbed Phineas's forearm. "What _happened_?"

"Well, I was skiing down the mountain, and almost fell off a cliff, but Ferb pushed me out of harm's way just in time. But that doesn't matter now," he answered, amused at her reaction.

"Phineas, you've got to be more careful!" Isabella said, sounding like she was a mom lecturing her kids. "I don't want you to get hurt," she said more quietly, sounding concerned.

"She'd be a great mother," Phineas thought absentmindedly as he looked down at Isabella next to him. He then realized what he was thinking and reddened. _I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, _he thought as they walked into Mrs. Lipton's Honors English 11 class.

"I'm sorry," he said truthfully, "We'll try to be more cautious in the future," he said to Isabella while they were standing in the classroom

Phineas and Isabella sat near each other, but not at the same table like in Astronomy class. Isabella was still clutching Phineas's forearm, not that he minded. When she realized they had to sit down, she blushed and let go before taking her seat.

The second bell rang and the music cut off, signalling the beginning of fourth and final period. Mrs. Lipton, an elderly but very cheerful lady, got up from her desk and walked to the front of the classroom. The class eagerly anticipated what they would do for the day and with reason: without fail, Mrs. Lipton would plan some clever way to learn and have fun during each class period.

"Good afternoon, class!" she said warmly with her rosy cheeks, and the students responded with an equally joyful "Hi, Mrs. Lipton!".

"Today," she said, slowly walking around the room, "I thought we'd do something extra special. Because Christmas is in only one week, you all get to write letters to Santa explaining the one thing you want most."

"Whahaha! Letters to Santa! Ahaha! That's for little kids! Hahaha!" Somehow, everyone could hear Candace all the way from Danville University, and there was no possible way she could have overheard Mrs. Lipton. But the class just went with it.

"...Anyways, to keep it school related, you must write it in the proper letter format and include at least one page explaining why you want your wish so much. These will be kept private, so feel free to write about whatever you want. I'll turn on some of the Christmas music I used to listen to while you work!"

A few kids snickered as 'Santa Baby' came on, but they preferred old, classical Christmas tunes to no music. The students got out pieces of paper and got to work.

"What do you want?" Phineas whispered towards Isabella. She shook her head and smiled, then mimed closing her mouth with a zipper.

Phineas had made Ferb a new helmet for driving his Ferrari at speeds over 200 miles per hour. He had gone into the future to get Baljeet an iPhone 7, and made Buford some extra-durable football gear. However, Phineas wasn't sure what Isabella wanted for Christmas. He had been brainstorming the perfect gift for her, but nothing had really stood out yet. Shrugging, he turned his attention to his blank paper and began writing.

Phineas didn't really want a specific item for Christmas. Instead, he chose to write about his constant desire to make others happy. Phineas's biggest Christmas wish was to make sure everybody else got their wishes. Over the years, he had learned that helping others brought out the most joy of anything he could do, and he had chosen to embrace it.

When he finished half-an-hour later, Phineas glanced back at Isabella to see how far she was, only to be met by a dreamy smile and eyes staring back at him. Phineas decided to stare back and mentally laughed when Isabella reddened and looked away. He kept watching her make occasional glances at him and speedily turn away, blushing each time.

_Yeah, she definitely likes me, _Phineas thought , almost cockily, as he reconfirmed what he had learned in the caves._ How did I not notice this before?_

Writing the letter had taken up the entire class period, and the bell rang just as the last person finished their lengthy Christmas wish letter. Mrs. Lipton released the class and went around collecting the letters. Most everyone rushed out of the room, leaving just Phineas and Isabella, who were still gathering their stuff.

"C'mon, Isabella, tell me what you want! I really want to know!" Phineas begged, giving her puppy dog eyes. She giggled and shook her head.

"No, I can't tell you Phineas! It's a secret!"

"Pleeaassse? Here, I'll tell you what I wrote about! I just hoped everyone else would get their wishes. Now will you tell me?"

Isabella was about to respond but was interrupted by Mrs. Lipton.

"Oh dear!" Mrs. Lipton said, accidentally dropping all of the handwritten letters she had collected. The papers scattered all over the room, but Phineas and Isabella were quick to stop what they were doing and help clean up the mess.

"Thank you kids," Mrs. Lipton said as they handed her the letters.

"...Alright, it starts with a P! But that's all I'm telling you!" Isabella blurted out.

"Do you want … a plasma TV with a channel on purple pandas eating provolone cheese?"

"No, I don't!" Isabella laughed, reaching for her purse. She started following Phineas out of the classroom but was stopped by Mrs. Lipton. The grandmother-like teacher waited until Phineas was out of earshot to begin speaking.

"Isabella, may I make the guess that you wanted Phineas for Christmas?" Mrs. Lipton asked, once Phineas had left, with an endearing smile. Isabella blushed, and she looked out the door to make sure he wasn't there.

"How did you...?"

"I may be an ancient old lady, but I fell in love once. It was during the Ice Age, but I still remember it." She allowed Isabella to laugh. "I've been watching you two this year, and from what I saw today, I would keep your hopes high this Christmas."

"What do you mean?" Isabella couldn't help but ask; she hadn't noticed any major differences today.

"I would keep an extra eye on Phineas over the next few days. You might notice something different about him. Goodbye now!"

Isabella was confused, but a little hopeful as she said goodbye and walked out of the English classroom.

"Thanks for waiting for me," she called to Phineas, who was far enough away from the classroom not to have heard anything.

Phineas gulped and glanced around the hallway. Although the bell had only rang a few minutes ago, the corridor was nearly deserted, leaving them alone. _This would be the perfect time to tell her, _he thought. But even with her reaction to him in English and at lunch, Phineas was still a tad worried, as all boys would be.

Isabella started walking to a school exit, but was stopped when Phineas grabbed her forearm. Her cheeks burned scarlet when he slid his hand down into hers, and she allowed him to take her other hand as well.

"Isabella, I wanted to tell you something," Phineas said waveringly. She looked up into his eyes with slightly parted lips and stepped closer.

"Yes?"

"Well, I-I figured something out over the weekend. That red pillar wasn't the only thing I found in the..." Phineas stopped, because just as he was about to reveal his feelings to Isabella, he realized something _else_. If Isabella wanted something with a 'P' for Christmas, and she had somehow been in love with him for several years without him noticing, could that mean that Isabella wanted _him _for Christmas?

"It must have been," Phineas concluded in his mind, "That's why she wouldn't tell me. And telling her that I finally caught on would be like giving Isabella her present … but it's not Christmas yet."

In a split-second, Phineas made the decision. He would wait until Christmas day to officially tell Isabella that he liked her back.

"What do you want to tell me, Phineas?" Isabella asked. Her eyes were like shimmering crystals and she had taken another half-step closer to Phineas, almost touching him.

"... I - wanted to know - when we should do the stargazing project for Astronomy? Yeah, that's what I wanted to know," Phineas lied, hoping Isabella would buy it.

Isabella sighed and lost eye contact with Phineas, and her face grimaced in pain. Phineas felt ashamed seeing her so sad.

"How about Wednesday, in my backyard? There's supposed to be a clear view that night..." Isabella trailed off, still looking depressed.

It was too unbearable for Phineas to see Isabella get her hopes dashed. _I'll just cheer her up a little, that's all, _he thought.

"Sounds perfect Isabella!" Phineas exclaimed, and then he surprised Isabella by by pulling her into an embrace tight enough to lift her off the ground. He spun her once before gently setting her down and quickly walking away.

"See ya later!" he called, looking back at her. Isabella just stood there, with wide eyes and a very surprised 'o' shaped mouth. After a few seconds, she slumped against the lockers, and her mouth transformed into a silly grin. Phineas smiled and turned away as he heard her happily sigh and start a series of giggles.

_Mission accomplished!_ he thought leisurely as he walked out of the school. _It was worth it even if I did miss the bus,_ he thought as he started the chilly walk home.

* * *

**There you go, did you guys like the little part at the end? If so, or if not, please review and tell me! I'm open to any criticism, it helps me write better stories.**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**Guest 1: Glad you thought it was funny!**

**PeanutJon: Could you tell me how you thought he was too OOC? I've been trying to see how, as they are older and alone...**

**Guest 2: Thanks, and Happy Holidays to you too (Even thought I'm a bit late)!  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Stargazing

**Right on time, here's chapter 4! Next week's update will be a little sketchy, it all depends on the amount of work I have. Plan on Friday, as usual, and I'll try to update it then.**

**This chapter may be slightly more ...interesting than usual. And there are at least 3 puns, I bet if you can find them, you will LOVE them!**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Stargazing

* * *

Isabella was confused. She lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about the past few days. It was Wednesday, and school was now over for winter break. Under normal circumstances, she would still have been melancholy because of Phineas being asked to the dance, but following Mrs. Lipton's advice had led her to a state of uncertainty rather than depression.

It was a good thing Isabella had followed the advice; otherwise, she wouldn't have noticed Phineas's subtle but strange behavior. He had been a little more affectionate than usual, and had hugged her at the end of each school day, causing her to collapse into Phineas-Land each time.

_I've got to stop doing that, _she thought, still embarrassed from her uncontrollable reactions. Isabella liked Phineas's new behavior, and she thought that perhaps he had begun to catch on to some of her constant hints.

At the same time, however, he had seemed more oblivious than usual. When he had taken her hands on Monday, Isabella thought for sure that something was different, but it amounted to nothing. Had Phineas somehow started to like her back, or was it just random and insignificant?

Suddenly, her phone vibrated on the night table next to her bed. Isabella rolled over and checked it; Phineas was calling.

_Why is Phineas calling me? _she thought as her heart rate picked up.

"Hello?" she asked uncertainly.

"Hey Isabella, I was just making sure we're still doing the Astronomy project at your house tonight, right?"

Isabella's eyes widened; she had completely forgotten about the project!

"Ye-yeah! You can come over around 8. Sound good to you?"

"Yep! I can't wait, see you then!" and with that, Phineas ended the call.

Isabella checked the clock; it was already 6:50! How long had she been thinking?

_Great, _she thought, heading to the bathroom to take a shower and brush her teeth. Then she put on some warm winter clothing: a long sleeved, lavender sweater dress, along with dark purple nylons, and furry white boots. Once she had freshened herself up, Isabella set to cleaning up the house. Not that they would be inside much, but Isabella wanted everything perfect for her crush.

After she finished speed-cleaning, Isabella rummaged through the closet, looking for some cute but warm snow gear. She settled with a purple coat lined with fluffy white wool and pink gloves, which were thin enough to let her write with a pencil. Her coat had a hood, so she didn't bother to grab a hat. As she looked through the closet, Isabella spied a bit of Mistletoe still in storage. She smiled and grabbed it along with her other gear.

Isabella hung the mistletoe right above the entryway at the front door, hoping they would be standing under it sometime during the night. She then checked the clock; it was now 7:50.

_I've still got a little time,_ Isabella thought, so she decided to mess around on their grand piano for a couple minutes. After finishing playing through one of her **(A/N: and my)** all-time favorites, _Clair de Lune_, she absentmindedly started playing the low chords from _Heart and Soul_, a simple, yet highly popular duet song. Just as she was squinting to read the digital microwave clock in the kitchen, somebody started playing the high part right next to her!

Isabella flipped her head around, accidentally hitting Phineas in the face with her long dark hair. He laughed, then took a seat next to her and continued playing. Isabella grinned at him mischievously, and the two started up a crazy duet of Heart and Soul on the piano. As they played, Isabella couldn't help but admire how good Phineas was at jazzy piano and improvisation.

After they finished on a high note, Phineas helped Isabella up, and she noticed that he was already in his snow clothes. She was going to thank him for playing with her, but her mom walked in and beat her to it.

"That was brilliant, you two tortolitos!" Vivian Garcia-Shapiro said loudly, hugging both Phineas and Isabella and nearly picking them up in the process. A huge blush played across Isabella's face. She knew the English translation for 'tortolitos', and she was glad that Phineas didn't know Spanish.

"Mom!" she whispered fiercely into her mother's ear. "He's right here!" she mouthed angrily.

Vivian laughed as she set the pair down.

"He's definitely a keeper, and it's my job to embarrass you, chica!" she said to Isabella as she walked out.

"What does 'tortolitos' mean?" Phineas asked Isabella after her mother had left.

"Uhm... nothing important, ready to go outside?"

They checked out the window; it was nearly dark, and the stars were just beginning to come out.

"Yep, I've got everything here," he said, pointing to the Astronomy textbook and paper he was holding.

"Great!" Isabella said, quickly putting on her coat and other snow gear.

"How did you come in, anyways?" she asked as they walked towards the back door.

"Your mom answered the door and let me in, and I saw you playing the piano and decided to 'play along'," he responded, grinning at his little pun.

Isabella rolled her eyes as Phineas opened the door for her, and they stepped outside into the Garcia-Shapiro's backyard. The snow had formed a white blanket over the grass, and little snowflakes occasionally floated down to the ground.

"So are we going to sit on some chairs to watch the stars or what?" Phineas asked, surveying the dark yard.

Isabella hadn't thought of that.

"Umm..."

Phineas noticed Isabella's lack of a plan and came up with one on his own.

"How about," he said, starting to go into inventor mode, "We build snow chairs! And we can add reclining seats, and footrests, and seat warmers, and drink holders, and-"

"Or we could just keep it simple build a snow couch," Isabella interrupted, hoping she could be closer to him.

"No, that's not as-" Phineas stopped for a second and looked like he was thinking. "Actually, a snow couch sounds great! Let's start building."

Isabella was surprised, Phineas would usually have unintentionally blown her off. Shrugging, she set her homework down started collecting snow for the model. Phineas started forming the seats and back, while Isabella created one of the armrests. She then decided to make the other one much closer to the first than a traditional couch, more like a small loveseat, and tried to start building.

Tried being the keyword. As Phineas leaned down to detail the base of the partially-formed couch, Isabella pushed too hard and accidentally collapsed the whole armrest on top of him!

"S-sorry, Phineas," she giggled, wiping chunks of snow off of his head and coat.

He suddenly stood up and walked away from Isabella, shaking the snow off of him as he went. Isabella soon lost sight of him in the dark night, wondering where he was going.

_Phineas isn't actually mad at me, is he? _she thought, slightly worried. Isabella got up as well, her brow furrowed in confusion, and she began to look for him.

"It was an accident, Phineas, I didn't mean to!" Isabella called. "Where is he?" she thought, looking around her yard.

_I didn't hear the gate open-_ Isabella felt something whizz by her ear, and whirled around to face nothing but blackness.

_What was that?_

Suddenly, a snowball flew out of the darkness and exploded right on Isabella's coat! She squealed and heard Phineas laugh from somewhere.

"Oh, you're not getting away with that, Phineas Flynn!" Isabella shouted, racing to take cover behind the snow couch. She remembered her snowball-making patch she had achieved as a Fireside Girl, and had 20 perfect snowballs made in just a few seconds.

Isabella tucked her hood over her head, then peeked over the couch. Phineas was nowhere to be se- wait. Isabella squinted, and sure enough, there was a barely visible red tuft of hair poking out behind her backyard shed. Grabbing her snowballs, Isabella got ready for attack.

_3 … 2 … 1_

"Charge!" Isabella yelled, sounding like an excited toddler on Christmas morning. She jumped the couch and ran at Phineas, throwing snowballs all the while. Phineas sprang from his hiding place and began running around her covered pool, trying to dodge her snowballs. He threw one back and nailed Isabella on the leg, while all of hers were missing.

"You throw like a girl!" he shouted jokingly as he ran next to the house. But right as he said that, one of Isabella's snowballs hit him squarely in the head, and Phineas promptly fell over into a hill of snow.

"You're gonna pay, Phineas!" Isabella hollered, jumping onto Phineas and straddling him. She pulled off her gloves and began tickling him through his coat. Phineas burst out laughing and struggled to get away with Isabella on top of him.

"Do I throw like a girl?" Isabella shouted, laughing just as much as Phineas. Phineas continued fidgeting but managed to nod his head amidst laughing. Isabella's eyes glinted with amusement; she was going to have to try harder. She was moving her hands to tickle inside his coat, but was taken by surprise when Phineas reached forward and began tickling her side!

Isabella shrieked with laughter and tried to pry Phineas's fast-moving fingers from her, but suddenly Phineas had flipped her and was giving her no mercy. He used one arm to pin her arms down and the other to tantalize her waist. It only got worse when he reached under her coat and started to tickle her stomach as well.

"Please, no more!" she begged, weak from laughing as she kicked her legs. Phineas grinned and shook his head.

Then, without warning, the snow on the roof of the house slid off right onto Phineas and Isabella, pushing him onto her and burying them in white fluff! Phineas finally stopped tickling Isabella, but neither could stop laughing for several minutes afterwards. Isabella was laughing so hard, she had tears in her eyes.

After mostly regaining her composure, Isabella realized that Phineas was still lying right on top of her, and she began to blush. When he started getting up, she wanted to cling onto him, but it was probably better to get up than get hypothermia from being covered in snow.

Phineas pushed several heaps of snow off of himself and Isabella, and then got up, pulling her up as well. Isabella stood with wobbly legs, and then fell down again, collapsing yet again into another fit of uncontrollable giggles.

"I - can't - control - myself," she gasped, not quite as recovered from the tickle fight as she had thought. Phineas smirked, and then scooped her up into his arms, walking towards the incomplete sofa.

He lightly set her down, and then set to completing the couch as Isabella dusted the snow off herself and gradually stopped her giggling. Once he had finished, Phineas plopped down next to her on the extra small couch - credit to Isabella.

"Cozy," he commented, settling right up next to her so they were nearly touching. Isabella reddened at the close proximity but was thoroughly enjoying it. After a second's hesitation, she scooted even closer to close the distance between them. Luckily, Phineas didn't seem to mind.

"Maybe we should start actually working on the assignment we came to do," he said, smiling. Isabella nodded, giggling at how much they had been messing around.

"Oh, here are your ...gloves" Phineas remarked, holding up a pair of drenched pink gloves still plastered with snow. He half-heartedly offered them to Isabella, who shook her head and pushed the sopping wet gloves away.

"I'll just go get another pair," said Isabella, but she was stopped by Phineas.

"Wait, I've got a better idea!" he exclaimed, and Phineas pulled off his right glove and gave it to her. "I'm left handed and you're right handed, so just wear my glove, and then..." he trailed off, looking down at his hand.

"Ooo-kaay," Isabella replied dreamily, enjoying the boy's nervousness. After pulling on his glove, she slowly grabbed his warm hand. Phineas interlaced his fingers with hers, making her heart jump. The couple smiled and stared into each other's eyes for some time, until Phineas shook his his head to clear his mind, and looked up.

"Um... I guess we should find Orion," Phineas finally said rather quietly. Isabella nodded unconsciously before snapping out of it as well. She leaned over and grabbed their homework, then pulled out the drawing of the constellation Orion. Luckily, they were using a clipboard with a light, so they could read without holding a flashlight.

Phineas and Isabella examined the drawing, then looked up at the starry sky to find the constellation. The pitch black expanse of sky was littered with little clusters of shining lights, and an occasional shooting star would light up the night.

Isabella sighed, staring up into the never-ending space.

"It's so beautiful," she whispered.

"So are you," Phineas whispered back, squeezing her hand.

Isabella felt her heart melting and gave him an endearing smile. The dark night helped hide her deep blush, but at this point, she wouldn't have cared anyway.

"Thank you," she sighed, leaning into him and resting her head on his shoulder. Isabella was on cloud nine, and was in no hurry to leave. "Thank you so much."

_He looks so adorable, _she thought, admiring his fascination with the stars. After a second, Phineas turned to smile down at her.

Isabella suddenly got the urge she'd had for years yet again. She would normally back out of it, but Isabella hadn't been thinking straight ever since she had started tickling Phineas. _And we're already _so_ close together, _she thought_. _Gathering courage, Isabella lifted her head from his shoulder and slowly leaned towards him. She closed her eyes, and was about to touch when-

"Found it!" Phineas exclaimed, pointing up at a specific group of stars. Isabella jolted up at the sudden noise and snapped her eyes open. She was a little disappointed at not accomplishing her impulsive desire, but Isabella was still beyond happy.

Phineas and Isabella inefficiently sketched out Orion onto their big paper, more focused on each other than on the actual assignment they were supposed to be doing. Isabella couldn't help but stare at Phineas, and he would often stop to stare back. She was elated when he rested his forehead on hers for a few seconds before turning back to the project. After a while, her eyelids started to droop, and Isabella had to fight to stay awake.

After what seemed like forever, the pair finally completed their picture of Orion. Isabella yawned and checked her watch lazily; it was 11:07!

"Looks like it's past your bedtime," Phineas whispered jokingly, glancing at her watch as well.

"Let's just go to sleep right here," Isabella mumbled, closing her eyes and nuzzling into Phineas's chest. He chuckled and let her rest on him for a few moments.

"Okay Isabella, time to go write our report now," Phineas whispered in her ear after a little too long, talking to her as if she was a baby. They slowly stood up, Phineas not letting go of Isabella, and still holding all of their homework.

Phineas walked a sleepy Isabella to her computer room and sat her down next to him. He opened up a Word document and began typing the report on Orion, with Isabella leaning on him.

"How do you think I worded this sentence, Isabella?" Phineas quietly asked the girl resting on his shoulder.

"Mmmmm..." Isabella muttered, not opening her eyes. Phineas smiled and decided not to disturb her anymore. As he typed, Phineas's eyes kept being drawn to the girl resting on his shoulder.

_She is so gorgeous, _he thought, wanting to stroke her long, silky hair. Phineas then turned back to the monitor and widened his eyes at what he had just absentmindedly typed.

_Another interesting feature of Orion is the way the light reflects off of her hair, almost making it sparkle._

Phineas frantically backspaced on the document until no embarrassing content remained, then he looked down to see if Isabella noticed. She was fast asleep, slowly inhaling and exhaling cool breath onto his chest.

Smiling, Phineas finished his last thought and wrote a quick conclusion, then saved the file to the computer. He checked Isabella again; she was completely out. He considered waking her, but he didn't want to when she was already so deeply asleep.

Phineas dislodged Isabella from his shoulder, carefully prying her arms free of his stomach. He then leaned over and, as gently as possible, picked her up bridal-style. Isabella let out a soft moan, then was quiet again. Phineas was surprised at how light she was, given that she was such a tall girl.

He carefully carried Isabella up the stairs, trying to avoid making the steps creak. As he walked up, Vivian peaked out from the master bedroom to see who it was. When she saw Phineas carrying her sleeping daughter, she smiled at him warm-heartedly, waved goodnight, and shut her door.

Phineas made it up the stairs and through the hallway, then carefully maneuvered Isabella through the doorway and laid her down on her soft pink bed. He inched off her purple coat and fluffy boots, and put them to the side to make her more comfortable. Phineas then pulled the covers over Isabella's slender body and slid a pillow under her head.

Once finished, Phineas admired her for a bit, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest under the blankets. Isabella muttered something in her sleep and turned over, obviously engaged in some dream.

"Goodnight, Isabella," Phineas whispered, tiptoeing out of her room. At the door, he stopped and thought about the amazing day he had spent with her. After a moment's hesitation, he tiptoed back and gave Isabella a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I love you," he breathed as quiet as can be, leaving Isabella in silent bliss.

* * *

**So I sort of think of this chapter as an explosion of fluff. I'm a pretty ecstatic about it, to the point of where I'm thinking of releasing an entirely separate one-shot of a similar, fluffy evening with Phineas and Isabella. Of course, there would be many differences, and it would probably be slightly longer. There were a lot of things I didn't implement into this chapter to go with the story, and a one-shot would give me a little more freedom. What do you guys think? Should I eventually write another short story similar to this chapter, or throw the idea out the window?**

**...**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**1/5/13 Guest: Thanks! Did this chapter continue the trend you mentioned?**

**anonymous writer: Well I guess not everybody likes Phinabella, but I'm glad you think it's well written, thanks.**

**1/7/13 Guest: Thanks for reviewing, but could you elaborate a little more than "write more" please?**

**PeanutJon: It's fine, thanks for the review.**

**...**

**If you liked it or didn't like it, please tell me in a review. I want criticism for my work, so feel free to tell me how you think I can improve. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5: Sickness

**This chapter isn't quite as exciting as the last, but I still hope you'll enjoy it! And do you guys like this method of weekly releases Friday or Saturday?**

**Also, do you guys think my chapters are too long, or okay length?**

****Disclaimer****

**For the 15th time (I counted), I don't own Phineas and Ferb!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Sickness**  
**

* * *

Isabella was in heaven. The Phineas-Land that she created in her mind had become a reality just the previous night. She had gone on a perfect and all but official 'date' with Phineas, complete with music, humor, playing in the snow, tickle fights, and to top it off, romantic snuggling under the stars. Isabella wasn't sure when she had gone to bed or even when Phineas left. In fact, the last thing she remembered clearly was checking her watch.

After getting ready and eating a quick breakfast with her mother, Isabella practically floated over to the Flynn-Fletcher house. She knew that Phineas and his family were leaving for Europe, but she still wanted to say goodbye, especially after the eventful evening the night before.

Isabella straightened her hair and clothes, and then knocked on the door. She was planning on asking Phineas what had happened the last night since she had somehow forgotten how it had ended. After a moment, Ferb, who was lugging around a suitcase, answered it.

"Hi, Ferb!" Isabella greeted him, and he waved at her with his free hand.

"Are you and Phineas getting ready to leave for Europe now?" she asked, and Ferb shook his head, then pointed at himself.

"Just you? What about Phineas?"

"Phineas came down with a fever last night, so he probably won't be joining us," Ferb responded, pointing towards the living room.

"Oh no," Isabella said cordially. Phineas would not be happy if he couldn't visit his grandparents. She walked into the living room, but Phineas wasn't there. However, the couch had been transformed into pullout bed, and a somewhat ruffled pillow and blanket lay on top of it. Isabella was going to call Ferb to ask where Phineas was, but she was interrupted by a sick moan.

Isabella walked out of the living room towards the noise, and was met by Phineas, who was carrying a load of folded laundry. He was heavily panting, and had a very red face, but he forced a smile onto his face when he saw her.

"Hey *gasp* Isabella," He got out, failing to stay upright without wavering.

"Phineas! What are you doing out of bed?" Isabella asked, worried by his appearance.

"I'm just *wheeze* getting ready for *gasp* the trip," he replied, taking a wavering step forward.

"No you're not! Ferb just told me you have a fever!" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not sick. *huff* I can go!" Phineas said defiantly, and he took another wobbly step in her direction. Only this time, he let out a small moan and started to collapse. Isabella gasped and lurched forward, only just managing to grab hold of Phineas before he fell to the ground.

Isabella struggled to walk him back to the living room due to his much larger body size. When she finally got there, he fell onto the bed and lay still for a bit, before trying to get up again.

"No you don't, Phineas, you can't even stand up!" Isabella said, firmly holding him down. Phineas tried to push her off, but he wasn't as strong as her in his weakened state.

"I'm not *gasp* sick," he said stubbornly.

"Well if you say you're not sick, then let's just check your temperature," she responded, grabbing a thermometer off of a side table. Before Phineas could do anything, she stuck it into his mouth, leaving him glaring at her.

The thermometer beeped after a few seconds, and Isabella grabbed it to take a look. She gasped when it read 102.5º Fahrenheit!

Worry creased on Isabella's forehead as she showed the high temperature to Phineas. His shoulders slumped (even more) when he read the thermometer, and he sighed in defeat.

"Okay, I'm sick. Combination of hiking, *gasp* a bug I caught, and last night. I just really wanted *wheeze* to see my grandparents," Phineas said, sounding exhausted. The change in his voice made it clear that Phineas had been purposely trying to sound healthy before, despite his involuntary breathing. "I just don't know what I'll do here."

"I'm sorry, Phineas, I'm not trying to be mean," Isabella sympathized, removing her grip from him. "But you have a pretty strong fever, and I don't want you to get hurt."

Just then, Linda walked through the living room and stopped to say something, carrying her purse and hauling a small suitcase.

"Hi Isabella, we're just leaving for the airport. I see you found Phineas, so I'm letting you know that I'm going to drop some spare keys by your house so that your mom can check on him while he's here. Are you alright with that?"

Isabella nodded, glad that he wasn't always going to be completely alone. Linda said goodbye to them, kissing Phineas on the forehead, and then walked out of the room to leave. But as she walked away, Isabella got an idea.

_How about I keep an eye on Phineas, to make sure he's okay? _she thought. Of course, staying with a sick Phineas wouldn't be quite as fun as yesterday's Astronomy project, but Isabella was already worried about Phineas's moderately high temperature, and a little extra alone time with him never hurt.

"I'll be right back, Phineas," Isabella said, and she rushed out of the house to catch Linda. The rest of the family was already in car, and Linda was just getting in the passenger's seat.

"Mrs. Flynn!" Isabella called, walking swiftly to the car, "Do you think I could watch over Phineas instead of my mom?" Linda smiled, got out the spare keys, and handed them to Isabella.

"I was wondering when you would ask me," she said, "And that's fine. Just don't get sick, and have a good time with Phineas!" and with that, the Flynn-Fletchers drove away, leaving Isabella to take care of Phineas.

Isabella started shivering and rushed back inside to get warm. She went back to the living room to find Phineas sprawled out on the temporary bed, staring up at the ceiling and breathing irregularly. She laid a hand on his head and found it burning hot, so she got a cool, damp rag from the kitchen to put on him. She also grabbed some Tylenol pills and a glass of water to help lower his fever.

"Thanks," Phineas breathed as she gently pressed the rag on his head. Isabella then held the glass of water up to Phineas's dry lips and helped him swallow the pills. She would have normally been elated about nearly spoon feeding her crush, but these were not quite the right circumstances for that.

Isabella walked over to an armchair and sat down, watching him slowly cool off. After a couple of minutes, Phineas was breathing almost normally, and had just enough strength to pull the blanket around him.

"Isabella," he croaked, "You need to leave." He paused for a moment and held his head, as if having a migraine. "You're *huff* going to get sick from me." He broke off, tired from just talking.

"I'm not going to get sick, Phineas," Isabella replied from her seat. "And your fever is way too high for me to leave you unattended right now. What if you have a problem and nobody's here to help you?"

Phineas didn't reply; he didn't want Isabella to get sick, but he knew she was right. They sat and did nothing for a bit, until Isabella thought of an idea.

"Do you wanna watch a movie, to pass the time?" she offered, getting up from her seat. Phineas had nothing better to do, so he shrugged and tried to nod his head.

"Which movie?" she asked, looking at a big selection of dvd's in a cabinet.

"I don't care, put on some chick flick you like," Phineas drawled, lazily staring at the armchair Isabella had been sitting in. Isabella smirked and chose _Pride and Prejudice _from the shelf.

"You asked for it," she said, loading the dvd into the player and starting the movie. She expected some snide and joking comment back, but Phineas just continued to stare at the armchair and made no attempt at responding.

"I was just kidding, Phineas. Do you want to watch something else instead?"

"It doesn't matter," he muttered, turning his attention to the TV set. _He really is sick, _she thought as she took her seat again and pulled a little book out of her purse to read.

The movie droned on, and Isabella cycled between reading her book, watching the movie, and checking on Phineas. She was starting to think that she liked Phineas being sick, because then he wouldn't be able to go with Jessica to the dance. However, the likelihood that he would still be under the weather by Monday was pretty low, and Isabella didn't want him suffering that long either.

As the end of the movie came near, she remembered the question she had wanted to ask him. She waited until the end credits began, then Isabella put her book down and glanced at Phineas. He was still awake and was watching the credits with a dull face and a somewhat opened mouth.

"Hey Phineas?" Isabella asked, "I was wondering, when did you leave last night? Did we even finish the project?"

"Huh? Oh..." Phineas turned to Isabella, and his face was lit up by a smile, but it was quickly replaced by a series of coughs.

"We finished, … but you fell asleep … while we were working … on the report … so I carried you … to your bed … and left … around midnight." Phineas mumbled, having to pause often to take a breath. A look of shock crossed Isabella's face, and she was quiet for a moment.

"You _carried me _to my bed last night?" Isabella finally asked, astonished. Phineas nodded with his head resting on the pillow.

"Wow," Isabella whispered to herself amazedly, and she started drifting off into Phineas-Land.

_Maybe he fell asleep with me! Maybe he stayed with me until midnight on purpose! Maybe he kissed me when I was asleep! _Isabella's fantasy of possibilities was interrupted when Phineas said something else.

"I'm sorry … I couldn't … dry you off." Isabella beamed at him; now she knew for a fact that yesterday had been the best day ever.

"Thank you so much, Phineas, putting me to bed was _so_ sweet of you," she said to him dreamily. That did remind her that she had completely missed out on her plan with the Mistletoe, however. Phineas had both come into and left the house without her, so she never had the chance to make a move. Isabella determined that, once he was better, she _would _get a kiss under the Mistletoe, no matter what.

Isabella decided that now was a good time to check Phineas's temperature again. She walked over and put the thermometer in his mouth again, and felt relieved when it read 99.7º.

"That's better, you don't have a fever anymore," she told Phineas calmly.

"Oh good, I'm feeling … a little better now," he muttered. After a moment, he tried to start getting up. Isabella was confused, but let him do so. Phineas successfully got on his feet and started walking towards the kitchen, but lost his balance right away, and Isabella had to grab him and bring him back to the bed.

"Watcha doin', Phineas?" Isabella asked as she tried to lay him down lightly. He had to catch his breath before responding.

"Just getting some food," he replied, "You've done … more than enough."

"Phineas, I'm not going to let you get up and hurt yourself, just ask me if you need anything. I want to take care of you today, so what would you like?" Phineas looked defiant for a moment, but his gaze soon softened, and he smiled at her.

"Thanks, Isabella. I'll just have … a banana." Isabella smiled back, then she strode into the kitchen and grabbed a banana. She peeled it and used a knife to cut it into slices, then grabbed a plate and arranged the slices to make a smiley face. After thinking for a moment, she changed the shape into a heart, then walked back to Phineas and gave it to him.

"Thank you," Phineas whispered again, "I like the creativity." Isabella reddened slightly, but wasn't sure if he had understood the hint correctly or not. As Phineas slowly ate his lunch, she got a text from Gretchen.

_Hey chief, ready for the Fireside girl training program we're directing in 20 minutes?_

Isabella hadn't forgotten; the former Fireside Girls were conducting a fun program to help Lil' Sparks switch over to full-fledged Fireside girls. She would have to leave Phineas alone for a while during the day, so she just hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Isabella texted her response back.

_Don't call me chief, Gretchen, we graduated the Fireside girls a year ago! But yeah, I'm ready, I'm over at Phineas's right now._

In a moment she got a reply.

_I thought they left though..._

"Who are you texting, Izzy?" Phineas asked lazily after he swallowed the last banana slice. Isabella's eyes widened and she looked up from her phone at him; Phineas had just called her 'Izzy'!

_He gave me a pet name, _she sighed mentally, looking over at Phineas. He didn't seem to notice his slip-up, if it even was a slip-up.

"I'm just texting Gretchen, _Phin_," she answered, returning the favor with a name she sometimes called her crush in her thoughts. Phineas rose his eyebrows and stared at her, but a little smile appeared on his face. Isabella turned her attention back to her phone to prevent a blush, and texted Gretchen back.

_omigoshPhinjustcalledmeIzzy! Oh, and he got sick and had to miss the trip, so I'm watching over him. _(A/N: Credit to 14AmyChan for the excited, no-space sentences! She didn't know I was putting this in either!)

"I have to leave now, do you think you're going to be alright?" Isabella asked Phineas, considering leaving only because he had lost the fever.

"I think so, _Izzy_. I'll just … go to sleep," he responded. Isabella blushed again and used a new text from Gretchen as an excuse to turn away and hide it. Phineas had _definitely _emphasized her nickname that time, even if he did have a weakened voice.

_SQUEEE! Ok, too bad, cya there!_

Isabella giggled from Gretchen's text, then grabbed Phineas's cell phone from his room and gave it to him.

"Okay, just call me if anything goes wrong. See you later, _Phin_!" she said attractively before swiftly walking out of the house to drive to herself to the meeting. Phineas forgot to say goodbye back, as he kept spacing out from 'Phin', but once he had recovered, he sighed in contentment.

Phineas told Isabella that he was going to fall asleep, but first, he felt like washing out that sappy romance movie with some classic _Spongebob Squarepants_. He used the remote to start playing a series of permanently recorded episodes that he and Ferb had collected. As he watched, his condition continued to improve, and pretty soon, he felt strong enough to stand.

Phineas scooted to the edge of the bed and slowly stood up, clinging to the couch armrest and wall for support. After getting over the dizzy feeling, he made his way to the bathroom for a well-needed moment. Then he staggered to the kitchen and, by some miracle, managed to pour himself a glass of milk. Once he had his drink, he went back to the pullout bed and collapsed onto it, his small supply of energy already drained.

Phineas didn't originally intend to call Isabella 'Izzy', but he had made up the name sometime in the week, and it had accidentally slipped out. In fact, he didn't even notice what he had said until she had unexpectedly called him 'Phin' back. But he was glad he had made a mistake because of her positive reaction, and plus, he had made her blush!

_She is so cute when she blushes, _Phineas thought, starting to get a little too dreamy before he snapped himself out of it. Her blushes always made him feel good, and were usually an effect of an embarrassed, yet happy Isabella, so Phineas decided that he would try to make her blush as often as he could. He had realized, over the past few days, that he was already quite good at it.

_But I can't give _too _much away until Christmas, _he thought, grinning at his plan. He had already given too many of his own hints, especially when he had called Isabella 'beautiful' the day before.

With that, Phineas turned his attention back to the television, but by then, he was actually beginning to feel tired. He felt too lazy to turn of the television, so Phineas closed his eyes slowly and fell asleep to the high-pitched laughing of Spongebob and Patrick.

* * *

**Not too much going on, but remember that Phineas is having a sick day. Did you guys like it, or expect anything similar?**

**...**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**jjyy97: Did you really think it was balanced? I sort of thought I broke the scale... (in a bad way) Thanks!**

**PeanutJon: I have, I think it's funny!**

**phinbella lover (Are there 2 of you?): Thanks, and you'll have to read and see! Sometimes I feel the same way about her (but a little less violent XD).**

**1/11/13 Guest: I'm glad you liked it! And you stayed with me from the beginning? O.O That's impressive, considering I used to be terrible at writing, and thanks!**

**1/12/13 Guest: Thank you!**

**FanficCriticTheThird: I think Phineas got the same sickness as you, lol! Seriously, I can't believe how much of a coincidence that was, and thanks!**

**total drama rocks: Thanks, but what do you mean by it's giving you a cavity?**

**...**

**The next chapter will almost for sure be out by next Friday, but after that, weekly updates may start getting sketchy. See you then!**


	6. Chapter 6: A Turn for the Worse

**Thank you guys so much for the huge amount of reception this story has gotten! I mean, it's only been out for one month, and there are 31 favorites and nearly 100 reviews! If you guys keep up this crazy review trend, I think we can clear 200!**

****Disclaimer****

**I seriously do not own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Turn for the Worse

* * *

Several hours after he had fallen asleep on the couch-bed, Phineas was awakened by his cell phone loudly ringing _Gitchi-Gitchi-Goo _in his ear. He groaned and blindly searched for it without opening his eyes; he was starting to feel sick again. In a moment he found it, and he slowly brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Phineas rasped into the small receiver.

"Hi sweetie, how are you doing?" came the reply. It was Linda, calling from an airport across the country.

"Hi Mom, I'm just sleeping," he whispered, finally wiping his eyes and opening them.

"Oh no, did I wake you up? I'm sorry, but we have a small layover in New York's Airport, and I wanted to check on you first. Has Isabella been taking care of you?"

"Yeah, she's been awesome," he answered, just above a whisper. "I was doing fine before, but now I'm feeling sick again."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I hope you get well soon. Well, we're about to board the plane, so I'll see you next week. Bye, I love you!"

"I love you too," Phineas responded, then he ended the call and looked at the TV. Spongebob was _still _playing, even after he had been asleep for several hours. He wanted to turn it off, but he must have pushed the remote off the bed in his sleep, and felt too dizzy to look for it. Sighing, Phineas closed his eyes again and started to fall back asleep again. He had a painful headache and nausea again, so he was planning on avoiding it by resting.

About forty minutes later, Isabella finally returned from her program with the new Fireside girls. It had been a long, fun day, and, before a group dinner, she had helped train the younger girls enough for them to earn their very first patch.

However, 'Indoor Arena Hog Riding' probably wasn't the best first choice, neither was it the cleanest. Isabella had been covered in mud earlier, only just managing to keep her face clean, and although she had wiped most of it off before, her clothes was still covered in brown stains.

Isabella quickly stopped by her own house to grab a simple replacement shirt and jeans, plus some pajamas and hygienic things in case she wanted to, *cough*, had to stay the night. She would have changed over there, but she was a little worried about Phineas not having been checked on or calling her all day.

Isabella hurried across the street, then let herself in with the spare key. She could hear a cartoon playing in the living room, and walked towards it.

Phineas was fast asleep, and was slowly inhaling and exhaling while hugging his pillow. The television was on, and probably had been on for some time, so she shut it off. Then she leaned over to examine him. She wanted to check his temperature, but he didn't look extremely sick, and she didn't want to wake him, so she decided to wait. Isabella waved a hand in front of his face to make sure he was asleep. She laid a hand on his forehead and decided he wasn't overly hot; Phineas didn't stir.

"You are such a cutie when you're sleeping," Isabella whispered to the sleeping Phineas. "If you weren't so sick, I'd kiss you right now." Although suddenly, that idea didn't sound so bad.

_I am such an idiot, I'm gonna get sick! _Isabella thought as she knelt down next to Phineas's triangular head. But she wasn't going to pass up this opportunity after waiting for at least seven years. When Isabella was positive that Phineas was unconscious, she leaned forward, hesitated for a few seconds, then softly pressed her lips to his. It only lasted a few seconds, but was exhilarating and electrifying, and even made her feel dizzy.

Isabella ended the kiss, then ran upstairs into bathroom at near the speed of light to stop her outburst. She swiftly closed the door, then let out several fangirl jumps and screams of excitement. _I just kissed Phineas! _she rapidly thought over and over again, and she couldn't help but start a fit of giggles. She was glad the bathroom helped mute her ecstatic behavior.

After her giggles subsided, Isabella remembered that Phineas was still sick, so she hastily washed her lips off in the sink, even using soap. The tingly feeling on her lips remained, however, leaving her joyful and animated.

Isabella wanted to get permission from Phineas before showering in his house, but she didn't want to wake him up and ask. Besides, she had showered there a few times in the past from sleepovers and such, so she determined it would be fine.

Isabella took an extra-long shower, turning up the heat to help loosen up her muscles after the physical workout of the patch. She used a fresh bar of soap to rub down every last inch of her body to remove any traces of mud. She even brought in her muddy clothes with her and washed them a little more to prevent any permanent stains.

When she finished quite a while later, she dried herself off and looked for a blow-dryer. Unfortunately, Candace had just married Jeremy and moved out of the house recently, so Isabella had to settle with wrapping her hair in a towel to keep it from dripping. She was going to put on her casual set of clothes, but it was already starting to get dark outside.

_Why not? _she thought, and Isabella slipped on her fuzzy, pink pajamas before opening the bathroom door. The house was now completely dark, save for a few rays of light emanating from the living room downstairs. She was inspecting herself in the mirror and practicing her smile when she heard Phineas groaning loudly from downstairs!

"What's wrong, Phin?" she called as she hurried down the stairs. He merely groaned again in a sickly fashion.

"I'm sorry," Isabella apologized as she walked into the living room. "I shouldn't have taken so long in the showwww..." When she saw Phineas, she stopped talking, but her mouth hung open in shock.

Phineas was lying in an abnormal position on his side, the blanket thrown off of him, and his skin was red on his cheeks, and a pale greenish color everywhere else. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably, and even his teeth were chattering. His labored, irregular gasping for breath wasn't helping either, and his eyes darted towards Isabella as he let out another pained moan.

"Izzy … I feel really sick," he said weakly, trying and failing to lift his head. Isabella shut her mouth and grabbed the thermometer once again, speedily checking his temperature.

"Oh my gosh … you're 104.7º, Phin!" Isabella exclaimed, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. That was high enough to cause brain damage! Isabella started panicking and began pacing around the room, trying to recall what to do.

Soon enough, she remembered what she had learned from her 'Emergency Medicine' patch. Isabella had to reduce Phineas's temperature by hydrating him and pressing cool, wet washcloths to his skin. She tried to stop and take a deep breath, but that only spiked her already pounding heartbeat.

Phineas mumbled something about heat, heavily panting. He was sweating and shivering at the same time, and his eyes kept losing focus.

"Hold on, Phin!" Isabella yelled as she sprinted to the kitchen to get more Tylenol and a glass of water. She ran back too quickly, accidentally spilling some water on the way, then brought the glass to Phineas's dry lips. He was too weak to even lift his head, so Isabella propped him up and slowly gave him the pills and water.

"It's g-gonna alright, Phineas," Isabella said waveringly, failing to convince herself as much as him. She peeled the orange T-shirt away from Phineas's sweaty body and pulled it off his head. In her desperation, she unraveled the damp towel holding her hair and pressed it against his shaking body. After a minute, she ran back to the kitchen to refill the glass and to get a smaller washcloth.

This process continued for more than half-an-hour, until Isabella herself was exhausted. She kept telling Phineas that he was going to be fine, but she had yet to believe so herself, and hot tears began to roll down her face. She continued to become more worried and tired, and was going to resort to calling an ambulance if nothing worked soon.

Just when Isabella felt that she was going to collapse onto the ground, Phineas began to stop shaking, and his hot-to-the-touch skin began to cool down and change to a healthier shade. His breathing began to stabilize, slowly reducing the unpredictable gasping to zero.

Isabella finally stopped her frantic, emergency actions, and checked his temperature yet again. She should have calmed down when she read 102.6º, but she was too shaken from the incident to feel any better. Isabella dropped the thermometer onto the bed and began to quiver.

Phineas had now recovered enough to mostly gain control of his body, and when Isabella did nothing, he checked the thermometer himself. He would have sighed in relief, but it was lost in a gasp for air.

"Isabella?" he asked with a scratchy voice. "I think I'm *gasp* better now. *wheeze* You saved me." She didn't respond, and he then noticed the tears that had been streaming down her face for some time now. She was sniffling and silently crying, and he could sense that she was about to break.

"Oh, Izzy..." Phineas gathered energy, then used every last drop of his strength to stand up next to her. His muscles and head screamed in protest as he weakly pulled her trembling body against his frail one. By then, he had nearly blacked out, so Phineas fell back onto the bed, still holding Isabella.

"It's okay, it's all over now," he whispered softly into her ear.

That did it. Isabella couldn't hold it any longer, and the emotions that had been building up in her began to spill out. Sob after sob racked her body relentlessly, and Phineas could only hold her tightly against him.

"T-That w-was s-s-so s-scary," she cried, shivering as she spoke, and now hugging him back. Phineas could feel her wild heartbeat pulsing through her body, and her dark, still-wet hair clung to his head and shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Izzy," he said, rubbing her back to comfort her. She continued to cry, then eventually moved to face him.

"I th-thought you were g-gonna die!" she said in a high-pitched voice, as more tears welled up in her eyes. Phineas just smiled at her sympathetically, and Isabella let out another loud sob and went back to hugging him even tighter. He just kept massaging her back and let her cry it out.

As time went by, Isabella gradually calmed down, and was eventually just sniffling. When she had mostly regained her composure, she finally pulled back from the embrace, and Phineas gently wiped away her tears, while still holding her upper back.

"Thanks, Phin," she said with sparkling eyes.

"Izzy, I should be thanking you. Why are you saying thanks?"

"Because you made me feel better, like you always do."

Phineas coughed to the side, but then smiled at her, and he had to suppress a blush, which was unusual. She sniffled again, but smiled.

"You're nice, Isabella, thanks. But you've been watching over me all day, and you may have just saved my life, for all I know. Thank _you_."

"Aww..." she crooned, "Phin, it wasn't that hard-"

"Yes it was," he interrupted, "You've had to watch me for an entire movie, make me lunch, keep checking on me-" Phineas broke off gasping for air; he was still pretty sick "-and then spend at least thirty traumatic minutes trying to get my temperature under control." He paused again, not just to regain his breath. "In fact, I want to repay you. Is there anything you want from me at all, Isabella?"

"No, Phin, I couldn't." she said, shaking her head.

"I _want _to give you something," he insisted.

"Thanks, but I'll just stick with what you're getting me for Christmas, that's more than enough," she said, realizing that she should probably stay away from him to avoid becoming sick, even though it probably wouldn't matter at this point. She unwillingly separated herself from him and stood up.

"...Actually, maybe you could... never mind," Isabella trailed off, too nervous to finish her request. Phineas had managed to pull himself up to the back of the couch in a half-sitting position.

"Don't be shy, Izzy. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it when I'm better, if not now."

Isabella looked embarrassed and turned away to hide her expression. "I was wondering..." she said, barely audible, "C-could you keep calling me 'Izzy'? I really like it."

"That's all?" he chuckled as much as his sore throat would allow. "Of course I will, Izzy, I like calling you that too, it's cute."

She turned to face him, a radiant smile on her face, as well as a minor blush.

"Thanks, Phin," she said lightheartedly, locking eyes with him. After a bit, her expression turned stern; Isabella had another matter to discuss.

"By the way, I'm staying the night here, it's _way _too risky to leave you here alone again," Isabella said, with a tone of voice as to say _do not argue_. "And if your temperature goes above 104º again, I _will _take you to the hospital."

"Okay, do you want to sleep in Candace's old room? Her furniture is still there."

"Nope, I'm sleeping in here. I couldn't hear you in the bathroom, so how would I keep an eye on you from there?"

Phineas liked how Isabella was always so demanding when it came to the welfare of others. He had no idea how he had come up with 'strong-willed' as her only possible negative trait while he was skiing.

"Alright, Izzy, if you want to sleep in the living room with me, you can." Phineas started moving off the bed, but Isabella stopped him.

"No you don't. You need rest, Phin, what can I get for you?"

"I'm just letting you have the bed, I can sleep on the floor."

Isabella stopped. Phineas was _seriously _giving up the bed for her when he had come close to brain damage or worse only moments before? She knew that he was a caring person, but she didn't expect him to be this thoughtful.

"Phineas, I'm staying over here to help you get better. That's really nice of you, but how is sleeping on the floor going to get rid of your fever? You stay there, I'll sleep somewhere else."

He opened his mouth and looked ready to argue, but decided against it, and clamped it shut again.

"I'm gonna get you a new shirt and blanket, is there anything else you want?" Phineas shook his head, and thanked her yet again for her mothering. Isabella made her way to the linen closet and pulled out two clean blankets and pillows, then stopped by Phineas and Ferb's room to grab an orange pajama top for him. She also brushed her teeth and used the restroom, getting cleaned up before bed. As she did her errands, Isabella called her mom to ensure she could stay the night to keep Phineas safe, and, as expected, received a yes.

"I like your jammies, Izzy," Phineas commented as she walked back into the room. Isabella raised an eyebrow as she switched his bedding and handed him the shirt.

"I've been wearing these for a while, Phin, you really _are _sick," she joked while reclining the armchair back. "But thanks! And are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better now."

Phineas let out a huge yawn as Isabella laid her pillow and blanket over the armchair, and because of the contagious nature of yawning, she was forced to yawn as well. This made her realize how long and tiring the day had been, and she was glad she could finally get some sleep.

"Wake me up if you're feeling sick, okay?" she asked.

"I will, thanks Izzy." he responded, nodding his head.

By taking care of him, Isabella had almost been acting like Phineas's mom all day. She remembered the way that Linda had left him earlier in the day with a kiss on the cheek, and had a nagging feeling to do the same. But she had already risked it once, and he might not want it either.

Smiling, Isabella compromised. Almost giggling, she dramatically placed a kiss on her pinky finger, then used it to trace a little heart on his cheek. Then, before he could see her blush, she quickly flipped off the lights and jumped into her makeshift bed.

"Sweet dreams, Phin!" she said cutely. He didn't respond for a moment, hopefully because of her sudden affection.

"Uhh … g-goodnight, Izzy," Phineas finally managed to answer back, stumbling over his words. This time, Isabella couldn't suppress one or two giggles from his love struck reaction (she hoped), and after an exhausting, terrifying, but rewarding day, she slowly dozed off into a meaningless sleep.

* * *

**There was the first major bit of drama! Did you guys like it, or did it freak you out?**

**…**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**PeanutJon: Yeah... Phineas watching Spongebob was sort of a reference to 'Summer Belongs to You', but not really.**

**PxIforever101: Yeah, 4 was the big one (or at least it is at the moment!), but I have to add little bits in every chapter!**

**1/18/13 Guest 1: Thank you!**

**1/18/13 Guest 2: I like it too, it gives people something to look forward too.**

**PerpetualSpeech: Well, in the show, Linda is pretty much oblivious to everything, so that's why I think it's acceptable. Thanks!**

**1/23/13 Guest: Thanks, hope that was fast enough!**

**…**

**I'm not just open to criticism, I WANT it, that's what helps me become a better writer! Thanks for reading and possibly reviewing, I'll respond to anything and everything!**


	7. Chapter 7: Sharing Time

**Sorry I couldn't get this up yesterday, just remember that I'll try to update on Fridays _or_ Saturdays!**

****Disclaimer****

**I still don't own Phineas and Ferb, why do you keep asking me?**

* * *

Chapter 7: Sharing Time

* * *

Phineas couldn't sleep. It wasn't that he was too sick; he actually felt pretty good, in comparison with the previous day. He just had a lot of thoughts running through his head, and trying to focus on counting sheep instead only made it worse. He had tossed and turned for the better part of an hour, before finally deciding that it might be easier if he just stopped trying and thought for a second.

Phineas rubbed his eyes and opened them, then moved to a sitting position on the back of the pullout bed. It was 1:30, according to the digital clock on the dvd player. The lights from the clock and from street lights outside were the only sources of illumination, so it was quite difficult for him to make things out in the blackness. However, Phineas was just able to make out Isabella's silhouette resting on top of the reclined armchair, where she had chosen to sleep for the night.

Yawning, he let his mind wander, and it led him to a certain moment while stargazing with Isabella. Phineas was well-aware of the kiss that Isabella had tried to give him while they were snuggling. She had leaned towards him with her eyes closed, and he panicked, using the constellation as an excuse to stop it. Not that he didn't want Isabella to kiss him. In fact, he almost gave in. Phineas was almost regretful, still wishing he could have shared that romantic moment with her, but he reminded himself that he needed to preserve her gift until Christmas.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a cough, then a blanket being pushed aside. He watched the outline of Isabella as she got out of her makeshift bed and quietly left the room, not noticing that he was awake.

Phineas reasoned that she was probably using the restroom, so he kept thinking, and next, his mind directed him to her gift. He was almost certain that Isabella just wanted him to return her feelings, as she had told him that she wanted something with a 'P' for Christmas. He was eager to let her know that he _did _return her feelings, but he still felt like something was missing. Phineas thought and thought, trying to come up with anything else that Isabella could possibly want, but got nothing. He sighed in frustration, but then, out of the blue, an idea became obvious in his head.

Yes, Phineas knew what he was going to get Isabella for Christmas. He smiled as the mechanical gears began turning in his head, and he began thinking about how to create or find such a gift.

Yet again, though, Phineas's thought process was interrupted when he heard a noise. Quiet, but definitely there. He craned his neck towards the hallway and listened intently. There was silence - and then - another muffled sound. It was a whimper, small and forlorn, and only just audible above the steady hum of the nearby refrigerator.

Determined to find the source of the noise, and already awake anyway, Phineas swung his feet to the edge of the bed and slowly stood up, glad that the dizziness associated with it was not quite as intense as the day before. He took a faltering step forward, trying to find his balance in the darkness, then began to walk to the hallway. He stopped and listened, and again heard the noise, this time possibly accompanied with a sniffle, although he couldn't be sure.

Phineas tracked the noise down to the bathroom door, and heard the said noise again. Yep, it was definitely in the bathroom. The light was on and was shining out from under it, further proving his point.

As he listened, it occurred to him that Isabella had left her bed only a few minutes earlier, and had still not come back. _Could that be Izzy? _Phineas thought confusedly, and he put his ear up to the door to listen.

Somebody, presumably Isabella, was quietly whimpering on the other side of the door. Small, infrequent sniffles and an occasional, tiny sob could be heard through the door. It wasn't much, but was still sad. Phineas scratched his head in confusion; _Isabella isn't still freaked out by my emergency yesterday, is she?_

Not exactly sure what to do, Phineas backed away, then quietly knocked on the noise immediately ceased, and was followed by some shuffling noises, and then light footsteps.

The door creaked open, shining light out of the bathroom, and Isabella peeked her head out to meet him. After his eyes adjusted, Phineas saw that Isabella had tear stains running down her cheeks.

"Izzy, what's wrong?" he asked caringly.

"What? Nothing, I was just using the restroom," she whispered back, trying to cover up.

"I heard you, I know you're upset." He put one of his hands up to her surprisingly warm cheek and wiped the tears away. "You're crying," he said softly, his brow furrowing in concern. She leaned her head into his touch, sighing and looking up at him. But then she pulled back and turned away so that he couldn't see her face.

"No, it d-doesn't matter, I'm-I'm just feeling *gasp* a little queasy, that's all," she said, wiping her eyes.

"Izzy, if something's bothering you then it's bothering me, too. Do you wanna talk about it?" Phineas reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned back to look at him.

"Promise you won't make fun of me?" she asked.

"I promise," Phineas replied, wrapping his arm around her.

"...Okay," she whispered, and he walked her out of the room. He turned off the light as they left, engulfing them again in darkness.

Once they had made it back to the living room, Phineas led Isabella back to his own bed and let her slide onto it. She sat down and leaned on the back of the couch-bed, and he joined her, pulling the blanket over both of their legs.

"So what's been bugging you?" Phineas asked just above a whisper.

"I don't know … your really high fever yesterday, it's just … if I wasn't being so inconsiderate, then I would *huff* have been there to help you earlier!" Isabella's voice began to rise in volume and frustration.

"Izzy, that doesn't matter, you couldn't predict that."

"But if I wasn't lollygagging around in the shower, then I could have prevented it! *gasp* You could have been seriously hurt, or worse, all because of me!"

"You can't blame yourself, Isabella-"

"But it _was _m-my fault! I _should _be b-blaming myself! I'm such-"

"Isabella!" he insisted loudly, grabbing her hand and snapping her out of it. She turned to him, startled.

"Izzy, you did _nothing _wrong, I don't blame you for anything at all. For all I know, you may have _saved my life_. I would have had a high fever even if you were with me."

Isabella said nothing for a few moments, just sniffling here and there.

"What if I was with someone else," Phineas continued, "They would have no clue what to do, and I'd have been in a much worse situation. But you're Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, you graduated as Chief of Fireside Girls Troop 46321, and you knew exactly how to cool me down. I'm _very _glad you were there to help, Izzy, no matter how long you spent in the bathroom."

Isabella stayed silent, but she had slowly stopped sniffling.

"Really?" she whispered hopefully after a bit.

"Really," Phineas affirmed, caressing her hand with his thumb.. A small smile lit up her face, and she leaned over and gave Phineas a quick hug.

"Thanks Phineas," she said contently, pulling away. "Like I said yesterday, you always *wheeze* know how to cheer me up."

"I'm glad," he replied, "Because I can't stand to see you unhappy." The couple smiled at each other in the darkness for a few seconds, now resting their heads on the back of the couch.

"Did you say you were feeling queasy, Izzy?" Phineas asked, "Because you feel pretty warm." Isabella shook her head - then stopped - and ever-so-slightly nodded.

"I'm going to go wash this off so we can check you, okay?" he asked her, holding the thermometer. She nodded again, sliding into a laying position. He got up and walked to the kitchen to use the sink.

Before he cleaned it, Phineas checked his own temperature again.

_99.1º_. _That's why I'm feeling so much better, _he thought, _I guess the medicine's been working_.

After he got back, Phineas checked Isabella's temperature, and his fears were confirmed. Isabella was at 100.8º - not serious, but definitely a fever.

"Oh no, I got you sick too," he said ashamedly to Isabella. She just moaned and pulled up the covers. He sat down on the bed again, not sure what to do.

"I'll let you sleep on the bed, and I'll take the floor. Okay?" Isabella shook her head against the bed vigorously.

"No, you're still sick too, you can't sleep on the floor. *gasp* Just sleep on the other side."

"It's fine, if you don't want me on the floor, I can sleep on the armchair inst-"

"Please, Phin?" Isabella pleaded, using her puppy dog eyes. Phineas smiled and agreed, then grabbed Isabella's pillow for her and slid into the bed next to her. _I don't want to invade on her privacy, but if she's begging me, I guess it wouldn't hurt, _he thought.

"This is temporary, okay? I'll move in a little while," he said. Isabella weakly smiled and nodded her head, then settled in and closed her eyes. She was soon sound asleep, curled up on her side of the bed.

Phineas had really meant to move to another place after she had gone to bed, but being up at night for half-an-hour or more while sick had already drained his energy. As he leaned on the bed, his eyelids started to droop, and soon enough, he, too, was fast asleep.

The next morning, Phineas was awakened by rays of sunshine hitting against his face. He opened his eyes and waited for them to adjust, then stretched his arms out.

Or at least he tried to stretch them. Only one arm could easily move, and as he turned his head, Phineas saw that Isabella was tightly holding his hand against herself. She was still asleep, and her pale, discolored face reminded him that she had gotten sick during the night. He was feeling okay, but not as good as before.

Remembering that she had made him lunch the day before, Phineas decided to return the favor by making Isabella a fancy breakfast, or at least as fancy as he could handle while sick. He reasoned that it wouldn't matter if he prepared her food, because they were both already sick.

He tried to remove his hand from Isabella's grasp, but she only sighed and held it tighter. He didn't want to wake her up, but he couldn't think of how to get away. But then he got an idea. Phineas used his other hand to lightly tickle beneath Isabella's chin. She giggled in her sleep and let go, letting Phineas to get up from the bed. He tiptoed out of the room and into the kitchen, glad he wasn't too sick to function properly.

Using his impossible skills of creation, Phineas whipped up two pieces of steaming hot french toast in only a few minutes. He stacked them on a plate, then drizzled thick maple syrup all over them. Then he cut up some ripe strawberries and bananas, and to copy the shape Isabella had made his lunch in, arranged them around the french toast in a big heart. Last, he set the plate on a tray and poured a glass of orange juice for her to wash down the meal with.

Being so focused on making Isabella's big breakfast as perfect as possible, Phineas completely disregarded his own welfare. He took some medicine, but never once sat down to recover. Thus, right after he completed the breakfast tray, the dizzy sensations in his head became too much, and he took a few staggering steps towards the living room, then passed out on the floor.

Only one or two minutes later, Phineas jolted awake, hearing somebody repeating his name.

"Phineas? Phineas!?" Isabella was weakly calling in distress, turned towards him in her bed. Phineas blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head, then slowly sat up. She sighed in both relief and exhaustion, worried that he had been unconscious for a while.

Isabella had just woken up, noticing that Phineas was missing, and saw him lying in the living room entry way. She had almost panicked, starting to think that he was having another emergency.

"Oh, good morning, Isabella," Phineas said, still phased from his sudden blackout.

"Phineas, why are you sprawled out on the floor?" she asked worriedly. Phineas slowly stood up, leaning on the entryway wall for support.

"Um, I don't know … I think I passed out, be right back!" he said cheerily, as if nothing had happened. He walked out of the living room to the kitchen, leaving Isabella dumbfounded.

"Phin, come back here, *gasp* you just fainted!" she called, sitting up too quickly. She was immediately hit with a strong headache and wave of dizziness, confining her to back of the bed.

After getting over her headrush, Isabella continued trying to tell Phineas to come back, but she could barely even hear her small, raspy voice. After a minute, he walked back in, holding a big tray.

Isabella's mouth dropped open when she saw what was on the tray, completely forgetting about her previous intentions. Phineas was holding a huge french toast and strawberry banana breakfast, making sure that every little detail was completely perfect. And he had shaped the fruit in a huge, flawless heart!

Isabella squealed with delight as much as her sore throat would allow, as he gingerly placed the tray of food on her lap.

"You made this … for _me_?" she asked incredulously as he crossed the bed and slid under the covers next to her.

"Yep! Only the best for my favorite girl!" Isabella squealed again, this time mentally, at his pair of seemingly romantic gestures.

"Thank you so much, Phin!" she said happily, breaking for air. "But... where's yours?"

Phineas had been focusing so much on perfecting Isabella's dish, that the thought of feeding himself had passed over him.

"Um... I'm - not hungry?" The response sounded more like a question than an answer.

"We'll share it!" she decided, sliding the tray over so that it rested on each of their laps. "We're both sick, and this is *huff* too much for me, anyway-" Isabella broke off into a fit of coughs, turning away to keep the food clean.

Her coughing reminded Phineas that he still needed to check her temperature again. Once she had calmed down, he checked her once again - 101.5º. It was higher than when he checked his in the kitchen a few minutes earlier - at 100.0º exactly.

"Your fever's rising," he commented, "Better take some medicine." Isabella was perfectly capable of taking the little red pill on her own, but she liked the idea of Phineas feeding her, so she opened her mouth and let him place it on her tongue. She then swallowed it with some orange juice that he gave to her as well.

After that, the couple began to eat their tasty breakfast. Phineas had only grabbed one set of utensils for Isabella, so he used the knife while she used the fork. It took them a while, but they eventually finished off every last morsel of food, re-energizing both of them.

"You're a good cook, Phin," Isabella complimented as she placed the tray on the floor.

"Thanks, but it wasn't very hard." He thought for a moment. "Should we just watch something? I don't know what else to do."

Isabella shrugged.

"I guess so," she whispered, leaning back on the couch-bed. "But first, I should tell my mom I'm sick." Phineas offered his cell phone, since hers was by the armchair. She quickly called and informed her mom of the bad news, and learned that her mother wanted to watch over her at her own house. However, Vivian wouldn't be able to pick her up for a few hours. Not that Isabella minded, of course.

When she finished, Phineas used the remote to look through different TV channels. When he passed a specific show, Isabella perked up and grabbed his forearm.

"Wait! Go back!" she said intently. He flipped the channel back, and a classic Christmas movie was just starting. It was _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_, the really old version when all the scenes were created with puppets and clay.

"I used to love this movie!" Isabella said enthusiastically.

"Well I guess that's what we're watching, then!" Phineas responded with equal excitement, moving Isabella's hand down so that he held it in his own. She blushed, not just from her fever, and scooted a little closer to him.

As the movie progressed, the medication kicked in, and both teenagers' health began to improve. However, Phineas was getting warmer and warmer. He was actually feeling great, despite his increasing temperature. However, to him it seemed as if the room temperature was in the 100's. When a commercial break came up, he let go of Isabella's hand, scooted to his edge of the bed, and stood up.

"I'm getting myself some water," he announced while walking to the kitchen, "Do you want anything, Izzy?" She shook her head in response.

When he came back, Phineas sat down again, but he was still overly hot. He laid his legs above the blanket, hoping it would cool him down.

"Are you feeling okay, Phin?" Isabella asked worriedly, noticing his intentions.

"Yeah, it's just really hot in here."

"That's weird, I don't think it's hot at all. It's probably a symptom of your sickness." Isabella laid her hand on his forehead. "Wow, you _are _hot. And you don't feel gross?"

He shook his head, but then started to smirk.

"I'm not as hot as _you _though."

"...I don't feel hot, what are you talking about?"

"Well _I _think you're pretty hot. A lot hotter than any of the other cheerleaders, that's for sure."

"But none of them are sick... Wait, how do you know I'm hot? You haven't even checked me!"

"I can see it. Anybody can. You're super hot, Izzy."

Isabella's brow furrowed in confusion; then her eyes widened. Phineas couldn't possibly be suggesting _that_, could he? Well, only one way to find out.

"I don't know, Phin, not many guys get hotter than you," she joked, trying to see if he understood.

"Well, our ideal core temperatures are approximately 98.6º, so that means..." Isabella sighed in disappointment as he continued speaking technical jargon; she thought her assumption was wrong.

"...And you think I'm the oblivious one, Izzy." he finished, grinning at her. He had to stop himself from bursting out laughing at her completely perplexed expression; how had she not caught his hidden compliments?

_Well, it took _me_ seven years, so I should cut her some slack, _he thought. With that, Phineas turned back to the movie, which had returned from the commercials.

The water and no blanket seemed to do the trick. Within 10 minutes, Phineas had cooled down a considerable amount, and was able to focus solely on the movie. The rest of _Rudolph _proceeded with no further distraction, and soon enough, the end credits began rolling down the screen.

The two watched the credits for a minute or so, then Isabella turned to Phineas.

"Well that was fun, what should we do-" she was interrupted by her own phone ringing. Isabella started to get out of bed to grab it, but Phineas beat her, quickly walking around the bed and retrieving it for her.

"Hello?" she asked with a scratchy voice, although it was improving.

"Hola, Isabella!" came the exuberant reply of Vivian Garcia-Shapiro. "How are you doing? Are you feeling okay? Are you and Phineas taking care of each other? Are you-"

"I'm much better Mom, thanks!" Isabella interrupted, knowing from lots of experience how to communicate effectively with her mother.

"Oh, I'm glad! Well, I'm about pick you up, but should I take you to the hospital? Should I check on Phin-"

"Okay mom, I'm ready, bye!" Isabella quickly finished, ending the call after several goodbyes from her mom.

"I guess I have to go home, then," she told Phineas, who nodded his head.

"It's probably a good idea," he agreed, "Do you have everything you need?" Isabella thought for a few seconds, then hesitantly nodded her head.

"I think so," she replied, but she had a nagging feeling that she was forgetting something.

"Can you walk?" he asked, and she again nodded.

Phineas took Isabella's hand, and when she was ready, he pulled her to her feet. She wavered a bit, in a worse condition than him, but then stabilized.

"We need to check on each other so we don't get a repeat of last night," Isabella said, once she had recovered from standing.

"Sounds good, let's just call each other every few hours, okay?" he offered. She nodded her head, just in time for the doorbell rang.

The couple headed for the door, Phineas making sure Isabella didn't collapse as he had numerous times before. He opened it, and they were met with a gust of cold air that caused both of them to begin coughing.

Vivian stood outside and greeted them, then ushered Isabella to come to the car, even though they only lived across the street. Isabella reluctantly let go of Phineas's hand and began walking away with her mom.

"Bye, Phin," she called weakly, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Bye, Izzy," he replied, watching her from the open doorway until they got into their car. Even then, he felt strange and empty not having his best friend there with him, even if he was quickly recovering from his fever. Sighing, Phineas went back to the living room, now having to wait for his family to come back alone.

* * *

**Wow, long chapter! Does anybody else have to act out the character's emotions as they write (Isabella's sad scene big time), or is just me?**

**…**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**1/25/13 Guest: Thanks, I liked those parts too! (And sorry about it being Saturday this time, I update on one of the two days, depending on how much time I have.)**

**PxIForever101: Thank you, especially for a logged in review!**

**PerpetualSpeech: Yep, I tried to get rid of them in a more unique way, glad you liked it!**

**Quest: Maybe they will!**

**Peanutjon: Thanks for the review, and just out of curiousity, is there a reason why PM's are disabled for you? Don't answer if you don't want to :)**

**1/26/13 Guest: Well, I don't want to kill my viewers, so I guess it _was_ good that it was resolved. Thanks!**

**Random Stranger: Very real, descriptive guest name! Could you give me some examples of incorrect spelling, please? (Excluding 'wanna' and 'gonna', I know those aren't really words!)**

**1/29/13 Guest: Addictions are not good, but I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**…**

**I will attempt to get out the next chapter by next Friday, but on my next story, I may have to reduce chapter updates to once every other week (not sure yet). Also, I may eventually get out one or two one-shots, but heaven knows when. Thanks for reading, and please review if you liked it!**


	8. Chapter 8: Dating Jessica

**You guys ready for more Christmas during Valentine's Day? I fail so much at Holidays XD The next chapter will _hopefully _be up next Saturday or Sunday!**

**And my cover art isn't coming up anymore :( Can you guys still see it?**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Dating Jessica

* * *

The day after Isabella left, Phineas slowly recovered enough to function normally, after watching nearly every Christmas movie available to pass the time. On Saturday evening, when he could stand up for at least ten minutes without the slightest feeling of fatigue, and had maintained a normal temperature for a full 24 hours, he deduced that he was better.

The same was not true for Isabella, however. As they had agreed, they would call each other every few hours to check on each other, and her condition had not improved. Because of this, neither one of them were able to go with the rest of the gang skiing on Friday.

After a refreshing sleep, Phineas woke up early Sunday morning to begin work on his present for Isabella. He could usually complete even the most impossible projects within an hour or two, but he knew that this gift was very special, especially paired with his other surprise. From before sunup, till sundown, Phineas diligently worked away at creating her precious present, only pausing for meals and to occasionally call her.

Being so focused on perfecting every little detail, he almost forgot that his family would be returning from their vacation in Europe late that night. Thus, Phineas had to stop his work early and perform a quick cleanup of the house in preparation for their arrival. As he went through the upstairs bathroom, he noticed that Isabella had forgotten to take home a few things, namely her toothbrush, shampoo, and some clothing.

Phineas grabbed all of her belongings in one big sweep, and carried them out of the bathroom. As he walked down the stairs, something fell from the pile he was carrying. He leaned down to pick it up, but when he saw what it was, his eyes widened, and he looked away in embarrassment.

Isabella's classic pink dress and leggings weren't the only items of clothing she had forgotten. She also had another outfit, a bow, a pair of socks, and unknown until now, _a change of intimates_. Gulping, Phineas used her dress to scoop up the sensitive clothing, then sped down the stairs and placed her belongings in the living room. He would have to return them over the next few days, and boy would that be interesting.

Later that night, the rest of the Flynn-Fletchers safely arrived home, and he was glad to have some company again, especially with his family. Phineas gave each member a welcoming hug, after explaining that he was better. They all went to bed quickly, exhausted from the long day.

The next morning, Phineas and Ferb spent several hours catching up on what they did, up until past lunch. Ferb had gone all over Europe building crazy contraptions with, not Phineas, but his dad and grandpa. Phineas grew a little envious from missing out on all the fun and bonding, but he had had his fair share with Isabella, even while being sick.

Ferb also informed him that, during their ski day, Buford had apparently grunted something along the lines of "You. Me. Dance. Monday." to Milly, and she had enthusiastically accepted.

After that, Ferb had to go pick up Gretchen for his day date, leaving Phineas to get ready for his date with Jessica Miggins. He did _not _want to go to the Christmas Eve Dance. Not with Jessica, anyways. Ever since his surprising discovery on Danville Mountain, he had begun to regret his thoughtless acceptance of her invitation, especially in front of Isabella. He was forcing himself to stay positive, reasoning that Jessica deserved a chance too, but deep down, he just wanted to spend another evening with Isabella.

_At least I won't have to worry about it after tonight,_ Phineas thought, taking a quick shower and freshening himself up. As he did so, he got a text from Jessica, giving him the meeting place and time.

Before he left, he texted Isabella to check on her, and was happy to learn that she was feeling much better now. This lightened up his day a bit, and helped him stay optimistic as he drove to the restaurant. On the way, he also dropped off his other friends' presents, wrapped with special timer paper that wouldn't open until Christmas morning.

When he arrived, Phineas got out of the car and identified a figure waving at him from the entrance. He mustered up his best smile, then jogged over through the cold outdoor air to greet her.

"Hiiiii Phineas," Jessica greeted, giving him a simple hug.

"Hey Jessica," he responded, and the two walked into the restaurant to eat.

Once they sat down, Phineas tried to start off a conversation with a friendly "So what do you like to do for fun?" type question, but she beat him to it.

"Why do you spend so much time with that _Isabella_?" she asked right off the bat, throwing Phineas off. Weren't they supposed to be talking about each other?

"Umm... Well, she's been my best friend for years, we have fun. What about you, do you have a best friend?" he asked, trying to shift the topic.

"Of course, but what do you see in her? Isn't she just another snobby cheerleader?"

Phineas's eyes widened; this was not the date he had anticipated.

"... You think the cheerleaders are snobby? They were actually all Fireside girls that-"

"Fireside girls? Lame!" Jessica jeered, rolling her eyes. "You should really reconsider who you hang out with, Phinny, maybe you can come join my group sometime!"

_Ugh... 'Phinny'? _he thought to himself, shuddering from the undesirable nickname. Phineas was struggling to hold back a series of comebacks on how awesome Isabella and the Fireside girls really were, but was saved by the waiter, who came to take their orders.

"Who are some of the friends in your group?" he inquired, trying to lead away from the topic of Isabella or the gang.

"Well none of them were nerdy _Fireside girls_, we're actually pretty cool. I don't see how you can stand that know-it-all one with glasses." Phineas's eye twitched; she was impossible.

The conversation continued in this fashion; Jessica would almost blatantly make fun of several of Phineas's closest friends, and he would awkwardly try to change the subject, to no avail. When their meals arrived, he made sure to keep his mouth stuffed with food to avoid the uncomfortable topic.

When they finally finished eating, Phineas had learned almost nothing about Jessica, except that she really enjoyed criticizing and gossipping about others. She was a steady stream of slander and scorn, scoffing at even the slightest sense of satisfaction. (A/N: 9-part alliteration!) She even mentioned a most certainly false rumor about Isabella having at least three secret relationships which he dismissed immediately. This 'date' was not at all what Phineas had predicted; he did not know how he was going to survive the night without vigilantly defending his friends.

Next, the couple headed to the movie theater, which was luckily only a short walk away. However, the temperature had dropped severely and a moderate snowfall had begun, making it very chilly outside.

"I'm cold, Phinny," Jessica shivered as they walked. Remembering that he still had to be the gentleman despite her unexpected behavior, Phineas took off his jacket and handed it to her. She looked a little disappointed, but accepted it.

_Funny... that's the same look Izzy gave me on the bus, _he thought, wondering why.

"Ready to see a movie now?" she asked when they walked into the warm theater.

"Uh- sure, I guess," he replied, trying to be a good date, even though he was sick of movies and TV after his fever.

"Great!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the ticket booth. Jessica purchased two tickets to a long, romantic chick flick, making Phineas groan inwardly after _Pride and Prejudice_, then dragged him to the theater and sat down. He secretly preferred a movie to listening to her rant, however.

For the first five minutes, Phineas thought that he would be able to tolerate the movie. However, that changed when Jessica began touching his arm.

_I barely know her, isn't she moving a little fast? _he thought confusedly. At first, he ignored it, trying to focus on the mushy plot of the movie, but it became too much when she held his hand and started rubbing his arm. Phineas scooted as far away from her as possible, hoping she would understand and stop.

"Could you stop, please?" he whispered as gently as possible when she continued. She smiled at him and removed her hands, but scooted closer at the same time.

"Sure, Phinny!" she replied, making the hair on his skin rise. Phineas was really getting miffed by that nickname, but he chose not to comment.

The remainder of the movie continued in a similar manner. Jessica had been persistently trying to be affectionate with Phineas, whether by holding his hand, resting her head on his shoulder, playing footsie in the dark, or anything else. But he wouldn't allow it, and would always nicely ask her to stop. He was creeped out after the very first incident, but was just too kind to give her a definite 'no'.

_You are so annoy-No. You're just … extra 'touchy', _he thought as Jessica slowly inched her hand over to touch his cheek for literally the fifth time. Even in his mind, Phineas refused to let himself think poorly of others, although he wouldn't be able to keep it up if this lasted.

When the movie finished an eternity later, Phineas bolted up from his seat to regain his personal space, only for Jessica to shoot up next to him. He had barely understood any of the film, much more distracted by Jessica's unwanted affection. Only just refraining from sprinting out of the theater, he walked with her back to the front of the building.

"So, did you have _fun _with me in the movie theater?" Jessica asked suggestively next to the sliding doors of the theater.

"Are you picking me up for the dance, then?" Phineas asked, skipping her question because he wouldn't be able to answer truthfully.

"Yeah, in about two hours!" she responded. Because Jessica had asked him out, she would drive him, even though it was boy's choice.

"Ok, I'll see you later then!" he finished, starting to leave. But he was stopped when Jessica grabbed his forearm. He turned back to see her step forward, smiling almost evilly at him.

"You're forgetting something," she whispered, and with that, Jessica closed her eyes, and began to lean towards him.

Completely freaked out, Phineas leaned back as far as possible and tried to escape, but she tightened her grip on his arm and grabbed the other. He had endured through everything else, but he would _not _let Jessica kiss him. She kept getting closer and closer to him, and actually lifted up her leg, and had nearly touched, when-

Jessica broke out into a fit of coughing, letting go of him to cover herself. Still perturbed, Phineas used the opportunity to mutter another polite goodbye, then literally ran out of the theater. He hustled through the snow and got into his car, speedily driving away to freedom and safety.

When Phineas walked into his house, he sighed in relief. He would never admit it out loud, but that day date had been pretty terrible; he did _not _fit with Jessica one bit.

Checking the clock, he reasoned that he had about an hour of free time before getting dressed for the dance.

_I just might be able to finish Isabella's Christmas present!_ he thought, excited for a change in tasks. Ferb had returned from his date with Gretchen as well, but was working on something else, so Phineas had their room to himself. He spent the next hour detailing every aspect of her gift, not satisfied even when it was more than perfect.

Still not content, Phineas put the gift away just in time for Ferb to walk in. They began to get ready for the dance together, comparing their day dates as they dressed. Ferb had gone ice skating with Gretchen and had a chance to show off, and he had even been able to use his highly unused, yet very impressive, deep voice when their group did some impromptu caroling at the end. Phineas purposely stayed very vague about his date, but Ferb still got the gist that he had not had a fun time.

Just as he was fixing on his bow tie, Phineas's cell phone buzzed with a new message from Jessica.

_I have a fever now! I don't think we can go to the dance anymore, it was probably Isabella's fault. I'm sorry for you!_

"YES!" Phineas shouted, pumping a fist into the air. He couldn't believe his luck. _Maybe it was a good thing I got sick after all! _he couldn't stop from thinking. He started a little victory dance, but halted to a stop as he noticed Ferb eyeing him strangely.

"Oh - I mean - my date got sick, so I guess I can't go. That's - a letdown - I was really - looking forward to that."

_That was so inappropriate of me, _Phineas thought sheepishly, his face reddening. Ferb began to chuckle and waved goodbye, then shut the bedroom door and left. One minute later, he saw a car drive away, leaving him with his parents for the night. He pulled out the gift again and continued working, wondering if Isabella was well enough to go with her date now.

_Who _is_ she going with, anyways? _he thought, remembering that she had turned someone down during school. Phineas glanced out the window to look at her house, and to his surprise, saw Isabella in her bedroom as well! She was wearing a long set of purple pajamas, but she could easily be getting ready to change into a dress.

_I'll call her and ask, _he thought. Phineas really hoped that Isabella wasn't going with another guy, especially if she got any second thoughts the day before Christmas.

* * *

**Anybody a fan of Jessica? I know I'm not!**

...

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**Peanutjon: That is a good reason, I agree with your mom.**

**Sprinxmix: Thanks, glad you find it humorous!**

**total drama rocks: I don't understand, he already is sick...**

**2/2/13 Guest: Yeah, I liked that part too.**

**awesomeana: Thank you!**

**2/4/13 Guest: Thanks for the input, and yeah, I thought that as a teenager, he wouldn't be quite as clueless. After all, it's implied that he's been on dates before.**

**lolsalot: There you go!**

**…**

**If you enjoyed my writing, feel free to leave a review, follow, or even favorite, as they make me happy!**


	9. Chapter 9: 'Hanging Out'

**I have a little bad news, guys. I can't update next week because I'm falling behind in writing, and I need a week to catch up. I do not have writer's block, in fact, I know exactly what's going to happen :P But I'm running out of time to write. Please be patient until probably the 1st or 2nd of March!**

* * *

Chapter 9: 'Hanging Out'

* * *

After three miserable days enduring almost constant fever, Isabella had finally recovered. The minute she was feeling well enough to stand, she abandoned the TV in order to find something to do not involving a screen. She had gone from texting her friends until their day dates began (okay, that was cheating) to looking through old Fireside girls accomplishments, and was now writing in her journal.

Even though her mom was home, she was doing something in her room as well, leaving Isabella feeling alone and tired. She would have gone to the Christmas Eve dance that would start at any moment, and had even been asked by two more guys, but Isabella didn't feel like going after Phineas accepted _Jessica's _invitation right in front of her. Besides, she would probably still be contagious.

Isabella looked out her window, and saw Phineas in his bedroom, fully dressed with a tuxedo and bow tie. She sighed, envious that she wasn't the one picking him up, then turned back to scribbling her crazy life down in the little diary. She wrote for a couple more minutes, until she received an unexpected call from her crush!

_Isn't he going to the dance right now?_ she thought confusedly, and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice much stronger than before.

"Hi, Isabella!" came the excited response she had come to love.

"Phineas, aren't you on a _date_ right now?" she almost seethed.

"Nope, my date got sick. I guess I wasn't quite as healthy as I thought," he added sheepishly.

Isabella gasped and looked up to see Phineas waving at her from his window. She dropped her phone in shock, then scrambled to pick it up again.

"A little eager there, Izzy?" he laughed when she finally grabbed it again.

"Shut up," she responded, grinning evilly at him across the street. "So why are you calling? Another check-up?"

"No, I was just curious to see who you were going with to the dance."

"Uh, Phin, can you see what I'm wearing?" She posed for him in her pink pajamas jokingly.

"Maybe with nobody at all, then. So neither of us are going, but we're both better."

"I guess so." Isabella stayed silent for a second as a new idea hit her. If neither one of them had plans for the night, then she could be with him without any homework, people, fevers, or any other distractions! Asking him to the dance on the spot was another idea, but it probably wasn't a very good one if Phineas may have already gotten someone sick.

"Would you like to, um, 'hang out' at my place? Since we can't really get each other sick again?" she asked, crossing her fingers.

"Uh, I would, but I'm not sure, I'm sort of working on something," Phineas responded, sounding reluctant.

"You promised you'd do the next activity with me at school, remember?" Isabella blurted out before clamping her mouth shut. _How could I be so selfish?_

"Oh, you're right... you know what? That sounds like fun and I can do this later, so see you in ten minutes!"

Isabella squealed mentally; Phineas was coming over to spend the evening with _her_!

"Great!" she exerted, trying not to sound overly happy. "Oh, and Phin?"

"Yep?" came the reply.

"You might want to change out of that bow tie and suit," she giggled, "Bye!"

Isabella ended the call and watched him close the blinds again to change, and this time, she really did squeal. But then the panic began to settle in. She still needed to clean up the house, shower, and get on some real clothes.

Recalling her insta-date patch from Fireside girls, she flawlessly did a quick clean, showered, and freshened up in just a few minutes, but she couldn't find the t-shirt or jeans she wanted. Isabella hadn't needed to access her wardrobe for a while, as her mom would supply her with fresh pajamas while she was sick. But now that she was better, she noticed that she was missing not one, but _two _sets of clothing.

_Where could they be?_ she thought as she slipped on a different, but equally cute outfit. This one included long, pink leggings along with a snug purple turtleneck with white and pink striped sleeves.

Shrugging, she went back to fixing her hair _again_ until the doorbell rang. Isabella put on her best smile, then walked down the stairs and to open the front door. She was met with a snowy blast of cold wind, and Phineas holding something a few feet away.

"Hi Phin!" she welcomed, "Come on in, it's freezing out there!" She beckoned with her hand and moved to allow entrance.

"Hey Izzy!" he responded, quickly hustling into the warmth of the house. Only, he came in a little _too_ quickly, and slipped on a nasty patch of ice on the way!

Phineas bowled over, dropping whatever he was holding, and hit the unforgiving wooden floor. Isabella gasped, and leaned down to help him up.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she asked with concern.

"Ouch - yeah, I'm good." He stood back up and dusted himself off. "That was lucky, I wasn't injured at all."

Isabella spotted the things Phineas had dropped and leaned over to pick them up for him.

"Here are your things … wait, these are mine!" she said, inspecting the clothing and toiletries. "You found my missing clothes, thanks! I must have forgotten them when I was..." She trailed off as the mistake dawned on her. _Oh no..._

"I would have folded them, but, um..." he trailed off, looking embarrassed as she almost frantically looked through the ruffled pile. Then she came to the middle, and her shoulders slumped as her fear was confirmed.

Isabella was mortified. Because her sickness, she had forgotten to bring home ALL of her extra clothing, and it was _Phineas_, of all people, that had to see her-

She inched her head up to look at him with a completely red face, and was met with an equally embarrassed Phineas. Neither of them could think of anything to say, so they could only stare at each other. The situation couldn't much more awkward, so she darted upstairs to put her things away as an escape. Then she unwillingly went back downstairs to face him again.

"Sorry, Phin," she said, "You shouldn't have had to see those."

"N-no biggie," he responded, "Everything worked out." The two stood there for a few seconds, looking everywhere but at each other.

"So what should we do?" he asked to break the silence.

"Um, how about we … watch a movie?" she offered questionably. Phineas stared at her incredulously for a moment, but then he started to smile. Then, both of them burst out laughing. They had expressed several times over the phone that they were completely sick of movies or anything to do with the TV after hours of it being on. The joke also helped to relieve some of the awkwardness.

"Have you eaten dinner yet?" she asked. After all, it was dark, but wasn't that late, and Isabella didn't want to starve him.

Phineas almost gagged for a second, but then nodded his head.

"Yeah, I did on my date before. I'm kind of thirsty, though."

"Maybe … maybe we can make hot chocolate!" Isabella exclaimed. She had already begun fantasizing about how they could be cuddling together, sipping hot chocolate in front of a warm fire. Of course it probably wouldn't happen, but after the last week, she was more hopeful than usual.

"Okay, homemade hot chocolate will be amazing!" he replied, and the two headed for the kitchen to get to work.

"So how did your date go?" Isabella asked as she got out a big pot. _Please make it a bad date,_ she pleaded mentally, and a little selfishly.

"It was … interesting," he responded, grabbing the all the necessary ingredients for the drink. Phineas had been in Isabella's house so many times, that he knew exactly where everything was.

"How so?"

"Not quite what I expected. We had dinner and watched a movie, but - she's just not really my type," He seemed reluctant to talk about it, so Isabella didn't press, even though she wanted to know why Jessica wasn't his type, or what his 'type' really was.

After a half an hour of comparing Christmas movies and cooking, the hot chocolate was almost ready; now they just had to heat it up. Isabella put a lid on the pot and turned up the stove, then they went into the living room and sat on the couch to wait. (A/N: They're being bad, don't leave your stove unattended!)

"It's kind of cold in here, don't you think?" she asked after a natural gap in the conversation.

"Just a little," Phineas replied, "but that's why we're making hot chocolate!" He glanced at her unimpressed face, not sure what he had done wrong. "Or... we could start a fire, too," he offered, gesturing towards the gas brick fireplace in front of them. Isabella's look did not change.

"It's broken," she sighed, giving up on the hint yet again. That one would probably never work at this rate.

"Broken?" he repeated, looking intrigued, "Why didn't you tell me before?" She shrugged.

"We think there's a problem with the gas tube," she added for clarification.

"Well, I know what _else_ we're gonna do tonight, then!" he replied excitedly, jumping to his feet and examining the fireplace. Isabella smiled and got up to kneel next to Phineas; she could never stay down for long with him.

"Okay, I have to go in there to look more closely," he said, already removing the glass barrier. He stuck his head into the fireplace and moved around, looking for the problem.

"Hmm... Do you guys have any peanut butter, and some duct tape?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Yeah..." she responded, raising an eyebrow.

"I just need a little, and yes, it sounds strange, but they will work!"

Isabella retrieved the peanut butter and duct tape and brought them to him, still confused.

"Mhm … yes, and … there!" Phineas finished, pulling his head and shoulders out of the fireplace with the remaining peanut butter and duct tape. Isabella was a little skeptical, as the peanut butter could easily melt, but since when had he ever been wrong?

After he repositioned the glass barrier in front and gave her the okay, Isabella used the remote to turn on the gas fire. It did nothing - then slowly flickered on, and finally built up into a smoldering inferno. It even crackled and popped as if it were a real wood fire.

"Awesome, that hasn't worked for more than a year, thank you Phin!" Isabella exclaimed, giving him a hug, which he returned.

"No problem, Izzy," he replied, pulling back after a moment. The two sat back down on the couch to watch the flames dance around in the fireplace. At first, they tried to keep up a conversation, but the watching the flickering light slowly hypnotized them into silence. It wasn't an awkward silence; rather, they were just enjoying each other's company.

After one or two minutes, Isabella decided that she was going to try her 'cold' scheme one last time. She moved closer to Phineas, then feigned shivering.

"It's better, but I'm still cold," she said a little above a whisper, "I wish there was something … or _someone_ that could keep me warm." She turned towards Phineas and gave him innocent puppy dog eyes, praying that he might finally get it.

Phineas didn't understand girls. They kept telling him they were cold all the time; what was he supposed to do? But as he thought more, it became obvious what Isabella wanted.

"Oh man, we forgot about the hot chocolate!" he said, springing up away from her. She sighed and got up as well, but stopped him before he could speed into the kitchen.

"Wait! I'll get the hot chocolate. You're the guest, so you can stay here."

Phineas raised an eyebrow but sat back down, and she strode in front of him to get some hot chocolate.

Isabella was dying to share a mug of hot cocoa with Phineas, so she was delighted to find that there was only one clean one in the cupboard. Now she didn't have to make up an excuse. She checked the pot and found it at just the right temperature, then used a ladle to scoop some of the delicious heaven into the big mug. She even added a few marshmallows and some whipped cream, then slowly walked back to Phineas.

When she got back, Isabella turned out the lights so that only the fireplace lit up the room. When she got to the couch, however, she was surprised to see that Phineas had prepared a big quilt to go over them!

Isabella beamed at him as she sat down and made herself comfortable next to him. He grinned back, and graciously tucked the big blanket around her, and then him. Even though Phineas had misunderstood her original hint, she was still taken aback by how thoughtful he could be for her.

Isabella had been planning on making sure Phineas was okay with sharing one mug, but it just felt better not to break the silence. So instead, she just offered the hot chocolate to him, and he gladly took a swig, earning a whipped cream mustache in the process. Isabella giggled and took a drink as well; now they were matching.

The two took turns sipping from the steaming mug, mostly staring into the fire, although occasionally glancing at each other. They didn't talk at all, but Isabella was loving every second of it. Every now and then, she would innocently scoot another inch towards her crush, and pretty soon, their shoulders were nearly touching. They sat in silence, just enjoying each other's company and the realistic crackle of the fire.

After a few minutes, the pair finished off the hot cocoa, and Isabella leaned over to put the empty mug on the ground. As she did, though, her foot accidentally brushed against Phineas's from under the covers, making him perk up. She blushed and pulled it away, not wanting to push him too much _yet_.

_Wow, her toes _are_ cold,_ Phineas thought to himself, _She should be wearing socks! But I guess I'm not either, maybe that's why she's been so … cold... _His thoughts trailed off as he finally understood what being 'cold' actually meant. His eyes widened a little as he realized just how oblivious he had been, even after knowing of Isabella's huge crush on him.

_Well, I guess it isn't too late yet,_ he thought optimistically. Committing to his plan, Phineas searched under the covers with his foot until he came in contact with Isabella's. She majorly blushed and turned to hide her face, and he could even feel her heartbeat speed up through the couch. He smiled and kept his foot on hers, experimentally rubbing his toes over hers.

After a few seconds of this, Isabella turned back with a radiant smile on her face, and finally scooted closer once more to close that painful distance between them completely. After convincing herself that this was indeed real, she returned the favor by moving her other foot over to massage his. In a moment, they had a variation of 'Footsie' going on under the covers, neither of them speaking, just physically flirting and smiling.

Noticing her constant blush, Phineas decided to mess with Isabella by feigning his previously unknown obliviousness. After mustering up some courage, he leaned closer to her and gingerly cupped her face in his hands, rubbing little circles on her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Your face is _sooooo_ red," he whispered mock-worriedly, "Are you getting sick again, Izzy?"

The combination of his feet, hands, and the embarrassing question was just too much for Isabella, and her face flushed one of the darkest shades of red it had ever gone. She couldn't turn away because he was holding her head, and wasn't thinking straight enough to give a reponse, so she just leaned into his touch. She could barely register her hands moving to rest on his leg under the covers, or her head slowly leaning towards him.

Phineas hadn't planned anything else, so after admiring her for a few seconds, he removed his hands and recovered them with the blanket. He then took one of her hands in his, and wrapped an arm around her.

Isabella sighed audibly and made her head comfortable on his shoulder, her cheek slightly touching his. This was just like that day when they did the Astronomy project, only it felt a million times better.

As they continued to watch the fire in more-than-comfortable silence, Isabella somehow maneuvered onto Phineas's lap, and he responded by wrapping his arms around her torso and holding her, both under the blanket all the while. She curled up against him and nuzzled her head into his neck, nearly exploding with happiness. This was _so_ much better than what she had imagined in her wild hot chocolate fantasy, _so _much better than a silly old dance. Even her wild heart rate had slowed to a steady rhythm with his.

The couple romantically snuggled under the huge quilt for the better part of an hour, listening to the ambient fire noise and the sound of each other's breathing. Isabella was so far beyond any Phineas-Land she had ever created, that her mind had completely eliminated all thoughts except of Phineas. She no longer cared about how she looked, school worries, or anything else; now she just wanted to be closer to his warm body. If there was a seventh heaven, then Isabella was on the eighth, as nothing could best this.

Well, almost nothing. She peered up at him to see him warmly smiling back at her. As Isabella admired how the flickering light accentuated his handsome features, her heart began to pound again, and she unconsciously started licking her lips. She fought against the feeling for a while, but the mood of the room was just too powerful to contain it.

Taking a deep breath, Isabella temporarily broke away from Phineas and turned around so that she was kneeling on him, and she gently pressed her hands to his chest. Confused, but delighted, he stared at her wonderingly.

_This _has_ to be more than the friend zone, it just _has_ to be, _she desperately reassured herself, trying to build up courage. Her breathing quickened as she realized how perfect the timing was, how much she needed to tell him right now.

Saying one last silent prayer, Isabella slowly let her eyelids shut, and she slid her hands up to his shoulders. She puckered up her lips, and had just started leaning towards him, when-

"Isa! It's midnight now, Phineas needs to go home. Santa will be here soon!" Vivian called from upstairs at precisely the wrong moment. Isabella ignored the voice, and kept leaning towards him, but suddenly, she felt herself being … pushed … away?

Isabella felt the blanket drop from around them, and then Phineas literally picking her up and setting her on her feet. She opened her eyes, beyond terrified that he had rejected her.

"I guess I have to go," he told her, smiling endearingly at her. He couldn't have known what she was planning, or he wouldn't have looked so happy and unaffected.

_But I came _so_ close to kissing him, why can't it ever work out? But it's the perfect night to tell him! But, but, but..."_

"But," she whispered repeatedly in a stupor as he led her back to the front door. "But..."

"That really was the best night ever. Thanks for inviting me Izzy. Goodnight!" he whispered, giving her a small hug, then parting.

"But..." she whispered one last time as he closed the door behind him. Isabella stared down at her feet in complete confusion. What if he did know, and he was just being nice about it?

Isabella slid down onto the stairs and hugged her knees, beginning to panic. _He probably hates me,_ she thought overdramatically, quickly believing that Phineas had left to get away from her. She started rocking back and forth in worry, that is, until she heard front door open again.

Surprised, Isabella looked up to see Phineas at the doorway. She was going to ask what he was doing, but stopped when he quickly approached her and sat down next to her.

Then, without warning, Phineas cupped her head in his hands, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek! Isabella's brain stopped, and she could only stare at him, her mouth wide open.

"Leaving you like that is just too mean of me," he breathed, "Only one more night, Izzy." And with that, he was gone again, leaving Isabella in total shock. What was he talking about? Why did he come back to kiss her? What was going on?

All the confusion and shock was too much for Isabella. Her mind, trying to process everything that had just happened, and tired from the long day, finally shut down, and Isabella leaned over and fell asleep on the stairs.

* * *

**Yeah... I think this story is ****_wayyyyy_**** too happy and fluffy. But that was the point, I guess. Lots of you guys wanted a good dance, was that a good enough substitute for it?**

**…**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**2/10/13 Guest 1: They're your highlight? Awesome!**

**woodland5: There are... But I don't care :P Thanks!**

**2/10/13 Guest 2: You're welcome!**

**total drama rocks: That is plausible, but luckily, the author conveniently skipped that possibility!**

**Le Guest 3: Thanks, but Ferb doesn't quite hate Phineas in this story. I bet you could write something about that, though!**

**PerpetualSpeech: I tried... It's impossible.**

**toooldforthis: You're never too old for this fluffiness, thanks for reading!**

**…**

**Again, please allow two weeks until the next chapter is published. If you enjoyed it, or have any constructive criticism to give me, please review and tell me!**


	10. Chapter 10: Christmas Morning

**I needed those 2 weeks, thank you for complying. In fact, I probably need more like 3 or 4, but I'm getting back to weekly updates now, for at least a few chapters! (Probably until this story is over)**

**By the way, did you know that this story follows the same dates as the 2012 calendar? In other words, Christmas will be on a Tuesday, like it was last year when this story should have been posted.**

****Disclaimer****

**Guess what? Nothing's changed! I don't own PnF!**

* * *

Chapter 10: Christmas Morning

* * *

"Rise and shine, boys! Can you guess who came last night?"

Phineas slid one eye open to see the outline of his mother standing in the doorway of he and Ferb's bedroom. He groaned and shifted his head deeper into his bed… only to find a strange lack of a pillow. In fact, his head seemed to be on something very hard and uncomfortable.

Phineas reluctantly opened his eyes and lifted his head to inspect. As his eyes adjusted, he suddenly realized that he had fallen asleep at his desk!

He whipped his head around to see Ferb making his bed and bidding their mother good morning. He began to panic as last night's events began to come back to him.

After returning from Isabella's, Phineas had tirelessly worked through the night on Isabella's gift, staying completely silent and working in the dark so that he wouldn't disturb his sleeping brother. He had been for hours, and must have finally succumbed to exhaustion sometime during the night. Because of this, he hadn't finished the present!

Going into hyperdrive, Phineas immediately set back to finishing up the project, but before he could do anything, he was brought back to the present by Linda.

"Sweetie, it's Christmas! Don't you want to come down and open presents?" she asked before heading downstairs. Although very loving, Linda was still a bit oblivious herself, and sometimes forgot to speak to her boys as teenagers.

Taking a longing look at the gift, Phineas mentally kicked himself for falling asleep during the night, and got out of the chair he had fallen asleep on to join his family. As he trudged down the stairs, his worry was quickly replaced with excitement; even in high school, he had not lost his childish optimism, and Christmas was still one of the biggest highlights of his year. Not for all the presents, but for the joy it brought everyone else.

With his instant mood change, Phineas literally ran to his family, who were all eagerly waiting in the kitchen. Even Candace and Jeremy had joined them from their apartment on campus. They all enthusiastically greeted each other with a 'Merry Christmas', rapidly gobbled down a simple breakfast, and with suspense, stepped into the living room together.

A huge, brand new Christmas tree stood in the corner, adorned with many multi-colored bulbs, strings of red beads, many other antique ornaments, and a big star at the top. Underneath it boasted a massive pile of presents of all different shapes and sizes, addressed to all different members of the family. Some jazzy Christmas music conveniently turned on to strengthen the holiday spirit.

"Wow! Thank you so much Mom and Dad!" Phineas exclaimed, hugging each of them before rushing towards the tree. Unlike most kids and teenagers, however, he immediately began bringing presents to different members of the family to keep the excitement and happiness mutual.

Everyone took turns opening their presents, overjoyed regardless if it was theirs or someone elses. Among other things, Phineas got a new sketchbook for ideas from Ferb, some extra-savvy clothing from his Mom, a hard hat and other safety equipment from Candace and Jeremy, and an unusual looking antique statue of a frog from his Dad. As always, he was extremely happy and thankful for his new things, and made sure he let everyone know many times.

After most of the presents had been opened, Phineas started up a conversation with Ferb. He was curious to know how the dance had gone for Ferb, and was happy to learn that it had been fantastic. Everyone but Phineas and Isabella had been in a group, and they spent the night dancing, drinking punch, and talking. Upon mentioning the absence of the two, Ferb asked what Phineas had done that night.

"Izzy - er - Isabella invited me over since we were both recovering, and we made hot chocolate. It was really fun." He intentionally left out sitting at the fire, that would be giving away too much. Ferb smirked and nodded, wondering how many times he must have missed her hints.

As they talked, the doorbell rang, and Ferb got up to answer it. Phineas stayed with the rest of the family, toying with a new idea in his sketchbook. That is, until he heard a different, somewhat accented Mexican voice coming from the door.

Phineas suspiciously got up who the new visitor was. As he looked around the corner, he was surprised to see not one, but two people standing outside.

Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro was eagerly telling Ferb how well dressed he was, while her taller daughter stood shivering next to her. She looked back at Phineas and shyly waved at him, smiling a little. _I forgot that they were coming over!_ he thought frantically.

Without responding to her wave, Phineas dashed up the stairs and into his room, pulling out the incomplete gift, and trying make a thousand touch ups in just a few seconds. Why had he allowed himself to fall asleep last night? For the next few minutes he rigorously worked, counting on Isabella conversing with the others for a while, but his hopes were soon proven false when he heard light footsteps coming up to his room.

Taking one final look at his unimpressive gift, Phineas carefully positioned it into the little box he had prepared, and had only just closed the lid when somebody lightly knocked on the door.

Phineas hid the gift under his bed, then quickly answered the door. He opened his mouth to speak, but Isabella immediately rammed into him with a forceful hug. Surprised, he just stood there as she held onto him for several seconds.

"Merry Christmas, Phin," she whispered warmly, finally releasing him.

"M-Merry Christmas to you too, Izzy," he answered waveringly, "What was that for?"

"Oh," She reddened slightly, "I-I just wanted to thank you for last night, I forgot to before, but it was the best night I can remember." She smiled at him. "Maybe … we can do it again sometime?"

"Sure thing," he replied, "I liked it alot too! And how has your Christmas morning been?"

"Oh, it's been great!" she gushed, "We still had Christmas, but since I'm Jewish, it's never been very big at my house. That's why we came to your house. And each of the Fireside girls got me tons of new clothes to wear, I'm so excited to try them on! What about you?"

Phineas proceeded to give her a brief, yet exuberant summary of what he got, and also let her know how well the dance had gone for their friends.

"That sounds so fun," she complained, "I wish we could have been there too!"

"It does, but I think being with you was _more_ fun," he responded, smiling at her. She slowly smiled back, and nodded her head.

"Me too," she whispered back.

"Is there another reason why you came up here, though?" he asked, finally realizing that she coming up just to talk to him was a little odd.

"Um... I'm probably still contagious, so I don't want to risk getting anybody sick," was the best excuse Isabella could think of. "Also ... I wanted to give you your present."

"Really? That's awesome, but you didn't need to get me anything."

"Of course I do, you're my best friend, if not more! I'll be right back!" As Isabella left the room, Phineas noticed a brand new piece of Mistletoe hanging from the doorway and raised his eyebrows. _Boy is she persistent_, he thought, both a little worried and animated.

After a moment, Isabella came back, holding not one, not two, but _three_ packages surrounded by brightly colored wrapping paper! As Phineas took a closer look, he saw that the paper had a pattern of orange and yellow triangles scattered all over; she must have designed and created it herself.

"You bought me _three_ things?!" Phineas asked incredulously as he accepted the gifts.

"Um... I didn't buy them..." she feebly replied.

He widely smiled at her, then carefully unwrapped the paper so that it wouldn't be damaged. Isabella breathed a small sigh of relief as he successfully removed the last piece of wrapping paper and stared at its contents.

Phineas was holding three new power tools he always used in construction. There was an electronic screwdriver, a multi-use wrench, and a hammer drill. These would be great because his current tools were already getting old, and didn't work too well after the one-thousandth invention. More than that, these were unique, because they were off-the-market impossible-to-get _left-handed_ ones!

"They're not that good," Isabella said, looking at her feet, "I tried to use the skills you've taught me to build them, but I'm just not as skilled-"

"No way, these are amazing!" he yelled ecstatically, closely inspecting each instrument as if they were gold. He then sprang up and pulled a surprised Isabella into a hug off her feet, spinning her once for each present, and then lightly set her down. "Thank you so much, these will be _so_ helpful!"

Isabella continued spinning and uncontrollably stumbled to the side, then fell onto Phineas's bed. Her wide eyes and mouth remained transfixed on her face for seconds before she started up yet another giggle fit.

"You feeling dizzy, Izzy?" Phineas laughed as he sat on the edge of the bed. Brought back to the present, Isabella sat up next to him and tried to suppress her giggles. She went his question and sheepishly nodded, embarrassed as always by her loss in composure.

"I really do like them, Isabella, thanks again," he told her more quietly, smiling. She blushed and smiled back, overjoyed that he had actually liked the gifts she made him. She almost started going into Phineas-Land, but was snapped out of it when he leaned down to grab something.

"I guess I should give you your present now," he said even more quietly than before.

Gulping, Phineas handed Isabella a small, light, rectangular box. It was white and by no means complex; quite the opposite of what Isabella had expected.

"...I ran out of time," he forced out before she had opened it, "I fell asleep working on it last night, it's actually why I ran up here before. I hope you'll like it."

Isabella looked at Phineas once more with her huge, sparkling eyes, then slowly removed the lid and peered inside.

A simple, silver necklace lay in the little box. At its center was a polished, curved silver heart, reflecting all light off of it as if it were a prism. A little chain was attached to it. There were absolutely no flaws at all, not the slightest scratch, not the smallest blemish.

"I'm really sorry, you were probably expecting a lot more from me," he voiced barely above a whisper. "It's just a necklace, I couldn't think of anything else to give you. I can't the quality of those power tools you gave me." He paused, grimacing at all the upgrades he had failed to complete. "...I was going to create a new element that would be stronger and shinier than silver, and I was going to use a microscopic probe to remove loose molecules, but I guess I'm just not good enough..."

With his ramble complete, Phineas looked away for a seconds, and then slowly looked up, expecting the worst. _She's going to be so disappointed in me,_ he thought worriedly as he finally met her eyes.

A tear slid down Isabella's face as she delicately held up her new necklace. She turned around the little heart in her hands to feel its impossible smoothness, and let the chain slide through her fingers. Without words, she held the two ends up, and Phineas understood. He took the necklace and softly pushed her midnight hair out of the way, then gingerly locked the ends together behind her neck.

Without warning, Isabella bowled into Phineas, hanging onto him in an even tighter embrace than before. She rubbed her head into his shoulder, inevitably leaking tears of joy, and all he could do was stroke her hair and back soothingly.

"Thank you," she whispered passionately as she clung onto him, "Thank you so much. It's perfect, you're perfect, you're the best boyfriend I could ever possibly have!"

Phineas smiled, relieved and glad that she had actually liked the unworthy necklace. But as he realized what she had just said, his eyes widened to the size of saucers, and it was only another few seconds before Isabella noticed her fatal error as well.

I-I mean - I didn't mean-" she stuttered, frantically trying to come up with an excuse. She quickly separated from him and stood up. "I meant - no - I didn't-" Isabella tried to come up with something, but she was still too emotionally unbalanced from her necklace.

"Did you just … call me … your _boyfriend_?" Phineas slowly asked.

"I - um - you know, um - a _boy_ that's a _friend_? You're a friend, and a boy? Boy-friend?"

"Oh, so that makes _you_ my _girlfriend_! Because of _girl_, and _friend_!"

"Uh... y-yeah!" Isabella agreed, a silly grin appearing on her face, "You can call me your g-girlfriend if you w-want."

"Yeah, that totally makes sense," he replied mockingly, standing up next to her. "Actually, it totally doesn't. You shouldn't make excuses, because you're missing the perfect opportunity here, Izzy!" he hinted blatantly. Isabella's previous look of worry and embarrassment returned, along with utter confusion.

"What do you...?"

"I guess I'll just have to help you out, then," he joked haughtily when she failed to complete her question. Phineas smiled at her, trying to recall what he needed to do next in the plan, when he realized that he didn't actually have a plan. He had been winging it the whole time. His smile weakened as his mind went blank.

"What 'opportunity', Phin?" Isabella asked again, tilting her head to the side.

"Umm..." he muttered, stalling. Confessing his feelings or his knowledge of hers was all of a sudden very intimidating. Phineas gulped and shuffled his feet; how was he going to tell Isabella that he loved her?

* * *

**Hey guys, if I haven't reminded you enough already, you're reading a chapter about Christmas morning in March! Yeah! While I'm at it, I think I'll release a Halloween one-shot XD (Not)**

**…**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**Oppaoppawakawaka: Keep waiting, you may eventually be satisfied!**

**2/17/13 Guest: So do I!**

**PerpetualSpeech: Great, I'm glad you liked it! I really hoped that was funny!**

**woodland5: You are giving me ideas... smurfin' thanks!**

**Steve Koenig: Great!**

**PeanutJon: Nope, I got ya, the ending's not for a little while!**

**Ana: Haha, not this time!**

**…**

**I think I can get the next chapter out next week, but I have a few idea holes for the chapter after that. I'll do my best, please review and follow/favorite if you like my story :)**


	11. Chapter 11: The Real Present

**Another chapter! Yay!**

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb, or any other people, that would be a violation of the 13th amendment, banning slavery in the U.S. Der!**

* * *

Chapter 11: The Real Present

* * *

Isabella was happy. She was alone with Phineas _again_, he had liked the tools she made him, he had given her an impossibly perfect necklace, and to top it off, she was his girlfriend! ...Well, not exactly, but it was fun to think of it that way.

But now, Phineas had brought something up about opportunities. What was he talking about?

"What 'opportunity', Phin?" Isabella asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Umm..." came the reply. Phineas looked oddly nervous; maybe she had been a little too touchy before.

"You know, never mind, maybe we can go downstairs," he muttered, looking away from her.

"Okay!" Isabella agreed sweetly, already satisfied enough by the progress of their relationship. She was willing to leave if it made Phineas more comfortable.

Isabella began to walk out the bedroom, but as she reached the doorway, she was stopped by a pressure on her wrist. She looked down, and saw that Phineas had grabbed onto her hand!

"Wait," he said, walking under the doorway next to her, making them very close. She glance up to see her Mistletoe hanging above them, and a wave of red flushed across her face. Isabella tried to motion with her head to get him to look up as well, but he seemed deep in thought and hadn't noticed.

"What is it, Phin?" she asked, temporarily giving up. He still hadn't let go of her hand. Phineas looked back at her, and eventually opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He gulped and tried again, with similar results. Concerned, Isabella intertwined her hand with his.

"It's okay, Phineas, you can tell me anything," she encouraged, giving a friendly smile.

"...I, uh, I have another p-present for you," he finally managed to say, forcing himself to maintain eye contact with her. "It starts with a 'P'."

"Another?!" she said incredulously, "No … no! You've spent too much time on me already, Phin, I don't need anything else!"

"Yes, yes you do," he responded more strongly, "Or at least _I_ think you do. I could never spend enough time on you, because you're worth it."

"I'm … I'm worth it?" she repeated astoundingly, her eyes widening. She had started to realize that something was different about this moment, something was up.

"Yes... You are worth a _lot_ to me, Izzy," he continued, taking her other hand in his. "I care about you … more than anything. I have for a long time now, but I only just realized why." Isabella's mouth opened slightly in shock, and she intently waited for him to elaborate, but Phineas had another plan.

"Remember that cave Ferb and I trekked to a week or two ago?"

She slowly nodded as a trace of fear swept over her.

"...I never told you what I actually found." She tightened her grip on his hands as a stronger jolt of worry passed through her. "While exploring, I - I accidentally ran into … some hearts scratched into the wall." Her grip tightened even more. "One of them had your name written in it … plus mine."

Isabella's heart skipped several beats, but she remained petrified, wave after wave of shock piercing through her. After all this time, he had known about it. She had always wanted this to happen in the past, but right now, she was frightened.

"Izzy, don't be afraid," Phineas comforted, lightly caressing her smaller hands in his. "Yes, I actually understand what it means for once. You had, and still have … a huge crush on me."

Isabella's mouth dropped open as her fear was confirmed, and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Phineas could probably feel her pulse intensify through her hands; he couldn't comprehend how much this meant to her. He knew. He _knew_. He _wasn't _oblivious anymore.

She was terrified. What if he was just being nice before breaking the news that he didn't like her back? What if he was upset by the hearts? What if he was just plain mocking her? She wanted to run away and hide, but felt rooted to the spot. After more than a minute of silence between them, Isabella couldn't take the painful uncertainty any longer.

"Do you ... have any feelings for me?" she asked between her frenzied breathing. He said nothing; it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, and it was driving her insane.

"...Take a closer look at that necklace, Izzy." Phineas finally responded, gesturing towards her neck. Isabella let go of his hands, and, with trembling fingers, slowly lifted up the perfect silver heart around her. She peered at it up close, and this time, noticed some very light writing inscribed in the center.

_P + I_

New tears brimmed on Isabella's eyes as she looked back at the boy she loved so much. A slow, determined smile lit up his face as he stepped closer to her.

"Yes, Isabella, I return _all_ of your feelings." He emphasized every word. "_I. Love. You._"

And before she could respond or do anything, before his mind could think rationally and stop him, Phineas placed his hands on Isabella's quivering shoulders, leaned towards her, and softly pressed his lips to hers. Ignoring the small part of his brain screaming at him to stop, he closed his eyes and hesitantly pressed her body to his. He felt her go completely rigid, but then relax into his frame as he rubbed the small of her back and pressed a little deeper into the kiss.

After only a few seconds, though it felt much longer, Phineas unwillingly pulled back from her and broke away, already panting. Her lips felt tangy and amazing, making him even warmer and more electrified than he already was. But then he caught up with the present.

_… I can't believe I just did that._

Phineas slowly opened his eyes, expecting the worst.

Isabella's eyes were still closed, and she was heavily leaning against him, probably for support. He waited for her to look back and slap him, but she didn't respond. Confused, Phineas took a slight step back … only for her to slide with him, and start to fall.

With lightning reflexes, he grabbed Isabella's shoulders more tightly to steady her, but then her legs buckled, and Phineas had to wrap his arms around her and hold her so that she didn't topple over. Then it finally occurred to him what had happened.

Isabella hadn't relaxed during his spontaneous kiss, she had fainted! Why had she fainted? Not sure at all what to do, Phineas picked up the teenage girl and laid her down on his bed, then stood looking down at her. After a seconds hesitation, he lightly shook her shoulder and rubbed her temples.

"Izzy? Izzy..." he called soothingly, trying to wake her up. Sure enough, Isabella soon stirred, blinked open her eyes, and then tried to sit up too quickly, only achieving a headrush.

"Whoa," he said, gently pushing her back down, "It's okay."

"W-where are we?" Isabella asked, looking around and trying to reorient herself. Phineas didn't answer, hoping that her memory would come back. She looked confused and brought her hand to her neck, quickly noticing the new ornament that hung from it. With help from Phineas, she sat up more slowly, and examined the unknown jewelry.

Phineas watched as she studied the little heart in wonder, and how quickly her look transformed into one of recognition, and then total shock. She darted her head towards him, staring at him in astonishment.

"You … you … you just..." Isabella trailed off as he stared at her in fake confusion. She thought through her strange recurrence again, and suddenly realized that it didn't make much sense. Since when had Phineas ever had enough romantic ability tell her how important she was to him, let alone kiss her? _I guess I just dreamed it again,_ she decided dejectedly.

"Nevermind," she muttered annoyedly as he helped her up, "I just had a weird dream, that's all." _Why do I always have to make these things up?_ she thought sadly, _If I can't stop these, how am I gonna know when anything _really _happens?_

"A _dream_?" he asked, humor glinting in his eyes, "About what?"

"Not important!" she said abruptly, and then to change the subject, "Did you say you wanted to go downstairs?"

"Sure!" Phineas answered, realizing that Isabella's mind had rolled back to before any confessions. He _was_ going to tell Isabella again, but thought it might be fun to see if she could figure it out herself.

Phineas walked out of the room, leaving Isabella to follow him. She sighed, still depressed from her fantasy. _At least the necklace he made me is real,_ she thought, admiring the tiny silver heart that still hung from her neck. In her dream, a message was written on the side, but not in real life. It wasn't really there. Just to humor herself, she flipped it over to check.

_P + I_. Isabella blinked her eyes rapidly and shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind, but the subtle message remained. She squinted and tried to rub off possible pieces of dirt, but she could still read the message. Confused, Isabella decided to ask Phineas if she was crazy.

"Hey Phin?" she called out, hoping he was still in earshot, "Could you come look at something? I think I'm hallucinating."

Almost immediately, Phineas came back in, as if he hadn't gone downstairs at all.

"What is it?" he asked, inspecting the heart she was tenderly holding.

"Do you see… any words?" Isabella asked awkwardly, realizing how strange her question was. In a moment he would decline, proving her sudden need for medication.

"Yeah, it says P + I. Why?"

"No it doesn- what?" She stopped, bewildered. Phineas could see it too?

"You can see them?"

"Uh-huh."

If the letters were visible to both of them, then …_ they were actually there_. And that meant … her 'dream' was real!

Isabella slowly looked up at him with wide eyes, and literally began quivering in shock. Her breath started coming in short, quick bursts, giving Phineas a big scare.

"Oh no, please don't faint again!" he exclaimed, grabbing her and laying her back down on the bed.

"You - you kissed me!" she exclaimed, looking at Phineas incredulously. He sheepishly nodded, trying to smile.

"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier," he replied.

"You kissed me!" she repeated, her eyes filling with wonder and excitement. A small smile built up into a huge grin on her face as she silently looked at him.

"Isabe-"

Without warning, Isabella let out the loudest, most high-pitched scream of euphoria the house had heard in years, ever since a particular feminine sibling had moved out. Phineas cupped his ears for protection until the noise ceased, than cautiously removed them.

"Izzy, you sound just like Candace!" he laughed, making her blush. But it didn't matter.

"I'm sorry, I can't contain myself! I've waited all my life for this!" she excitedly replied, shaking with excitement.

"I know. Isabella, I'm _so_ sorry that I never figured before out , I should-" He stopped when she sat up next to him and placed a finger on his lips.

"I don't care, Phin, because you figured it out right _now_," she answered, tears welling up in her eyes. "You got it, you _finally _understand!" Isabella tightly embraced him, pushing him over onto the bed.

Phineas once again held Isabella as she again lost some control of her emotions. He felt his shirt dampening from her tears, but it was more than worth it if he had made her this happy. After a while, she parted a few inches.

"This is impossible... I think this is the best moment of my entire life," she whispered, almost to herself.

"I know how to make it even better," he replied, grinning a little nervously.

"No, it's too perfect already, nothing could make thmm..."

Phineas had wrapped his arms around her slender figure and pulled her closer to him again at a slightly different angle. Then, as she talked, he committed to his plan. He leaned up, and softly interlocked his lips with hers, waiting for her response. She froze, but then her reaction proved enthusiastic as she slid her hands up to his chest and eagerly pressed deeper. She had just closed her eyes when he unwillingly pushed her away, unconsciously craning his neck forward to keep his lips glued to hers for as long as possible.

And with that, they broke apart, Isabella already gasping for breath after only ten seconds.

"W-why did you stop?" she asked between labored breathing, but failing to maintain a look of annoyance over her beaming smile.

"I don't want you to pass out again," he returned, trying and failing to smirk. Her blush intensified, but it wasn't too noticeable, seeing as she was already so red-faced.

"I won't!" Isabella assured him, eager to get back to the action. And before he could answer, she wedged her way around his restraining arms and found her place on his lips once again. Phineas tried to keep a mental timer to end it, but the feelings were too much, and it was lost as she experimentally molded her mouth around his. Thus, it was not long (but frankly too long) before Isabella again became unresponsive as she lay nearly on top of him.

Mentally chuckling, yet ecstatic, Phineas moved Isabella onto the bed, and waited a few seconds before again waking her from her trance. This time, luckily, she hadn't forgotten, and she had nearly started a third kiss when a noise came from the door.

Both heads whirled around, and there stood Jeremy in the doorway, mouth dropped open in shock. Who knows how long he had been standing there, for he had only just dropped his phone. Isabella and Phineas were at once on opposite sides of the bed, smoothing out the ruffles in their clothing and looking highly embarrassed.

"I almost thought I heard Candace up here a while ago, but I guess not," he muttered confusedly, leaning down to pick his phone up. "And nice going, Phineas, especially on Christmas! I'll leave you two alone." With a quickly transformed smile, Jeremy left, both of them blushing madly.

"Why do you keep fainting, Izzy?" Phineas asked jokingly, "Are you really that crazy about me?"

"No! I'm … yes," she whispered the last part, "I've just wanted to do this for years, and it's sort of built up in me. Besides, Phin," she flirted, moving back next to him, "You're a _great_ kisser."

"Uhm... thanks?" he replied awkwardly, making her giggle.

"Phineas, it's almost time for lunch!" they suddenly heard Linda call from downstairs. "You should come join the family!"

Phineas shrugged and stood up, his teenage appetite still fueling his obliviousness. He began walking out, but stopped when Isabella didn't follow. He turned back to see her pouting.

"I don't wanna go yet," she said in a very baby-like voice. He walked back in confusion and tried to help her up, but she wouldn't budge.

_Oh! I know!_ Phineas thought, and he carefully leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. A smile played at her lips, but she still wouldn't move.

Blushing, he leaned down and pecked her on the mouth, hoping this would work. She blushed back, but finally allowed him to help her up. They began to walk out, but Phineas stopped. Something still didn't seem quite _finished_ yet.

"I was thinking, Izzy, remember how you wanted to 'hang out' with me more often?" he questioned, and she nodded her head in response. "Well, would you like to, um, I don't know … go on a date with me?" Isabella beamed at him, not yet able to respond.

"Phineas... I would absolutely _love _to go on a date with you!" she finally answered, only just keeping herself from quivering again.

He audibly sighed in relief, making her raise an eyebrow.

"Were - were you actually worried that I'd turn you down?" Isabella asked.

"Um - a little," he replied quietly, and her gaze softened on him.

"Phin," she said compassionately, "You _never_ need to worry about that. I'd never say no to you, because I lo-" Isabella stopped herself on instinct, but then realized that she didn't need to. _I can say it now!_ she thought.

"I'd never say no to you because I love you."

Suddenly, Phineas was hugging her tight enough to lift her off her feet.

"I love you too, Izzy," he whispered in her ear, making her heart melt. Isabella smiled at him endearingly before leaning in and gingerly pressing her lips to his once again. They would make up an excuse for the family in a few minutes, but until then, it was their moment. They were in a perfect, everlasting bliss.

* * *

**Finally! I hope you guys liked that :) And no, it's not complete yet, there's one more chapter left to publish! (And write)**

**…**

**Guest/Disabled PM Review Responses:**

**3/2/13 Guest 1: I hope you liked it!**

**jjyy97: I thought I finally might add one in here XD**

**total drama rocks: I agree!**

**3/2/13 Guest 2: It was? That's awesome, I wish I had given it some recognition!**

**PerpetualSpeech: Well I won't for one more chapter, and after that, something else is coming!**

**Peanutjon: That is a good song!**

**…**

**The last chapter update will be very sketchy, please don't hold me to getting out by next weekend (I'm going to try). I have many reasons … in fact, I'll give you a few details. I have had to attend 7 meetings, write 6 essays, and complete 12 tests in the last 5 days alone. I am not making this up, what would be the point in that? So please, allow a little time :)**

**Also, if you like my stories, you might want to follow me, because sometime in the near future, I'm planning on starting up a totally different, much more serious, suspenseful PnF story. There will still be lots of Phinbella (Trust me, there's always gonna be Phinbella), but a possibility of other couples too, and there will be a LOT more problems, danger, action, tension, and more. It's still in primitive stages, but I'm pretty excited for it!**


	12. Chapter 12: New Year's Eve

**Finally, after close to 4 months after Christmas, this story is finally complete! Time to relax! …Actually not, I've got a new, long suspense/romance story in the works! **

**Honestly, why is this story so successful? I don't think I'm _that_ good at writing... **

****Disclaimer****

**I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter 12: New Year's Eve

* * *

The next few days for Isabella were some of the happiest, most effulgent days she could remember. When she and Phineas broke the news to the gang, they were shocked beyond belief, never guessing that Phineas would ever see romance with his best friend. Adyson in particular was a little grumbly as she handed Milly a twenty, but Isabella barely noticed. Not even Ferb was prepared for their sudden announcement, as he had always assumed that their recent get-togethers had ended unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, everyone was happy for the pair, even if they did tease Phineas a little about his long-lasting obliviousness.

Isabella had meant to spend more time with her friends, as she hadn't seen them in a while, but her even stronger attraction towards Phineas took precedence. Thus, she found herself visiting him for several hours each day, with a whole new variety of topics to discuss and activities to do with him. Once, as he was teasing her about her uncontrollable tendency to pass out, she retorted that she just needed more endurance, which led to several 'practice' sessions to help her out. They had built up to a full twenty-one seconds before Isabella would faint out of bliss.

They didn't just 'practice', however. Phineas and Ferb still built impossible contraptions every other day, with the help of the gang, but Phineas made sure he didn't ignore Isabella anymore.

At the conclusion of one project, he informed her that their date would be on New Year's Eve, but he would only tell her that she should bring warm clothes. Isabella first tried affectionately 'bribing' him for answers, and then jokingly threatened that she wouldn't kiss him for the rest of the day if he wouldn't tell her, but he always smirked a little evilly and shook his head. He still got the kisses, however, as she just couldn't resist.

Late in the morning on New Year's Eve, Isabella finally decided she needed to catch up with her friends, so she invited Gretchen and Adyson over. They eagerly compared Gretchen and Adyson's dance dates to Isabella's earlier 'dates' with Phineas, squealing whenever somebody let loose one detail too many. Adyson had gone with a different group, but it still seemed like she had a good time. Isabella excitedly told them about her mystery date with Phineas later in the day, and Gretchen responded by sharing that Ferb had asked her out _again_ as well, for a date in only a week. She had yet to get her first kiss, but Isabella assured her that it was well-worth the wait.

They then had a quick lunch, and had just started looking through old Fireside Girls patches when Isabella glanced at the clock.

"Oh gosh, there's only an hour until my date with Phineas! Could you guys help me pick out something to wear?"

Gretchen and Adyson excitedly agreed, and waited for Isabella to take a shower, brush her teeth, and ready her hair. When she was finished, they had prepared for her some long, skinny blue jeans and a long sleeved pink cardigan to be worn with a white undershirt. Isabella instantly loved them, and even added a touch of makeup after she had dressed. She almost never wore makeup, but today was a special occasion.

With her outfit complete, Isabella and her friends excitedly waited for her date to pick her up, but at the same time, she began to feel nervous. What if it went badly? What if she ran out of things to say? What if she looked … _ugly_?

_What the heck is wrong with you!_ Isabella accused herself, _We've already been on several 'dates' in the past two weeks, he's told you he loves you numerous times, we have never run out of things to talk about, and why would he _ever _think you were ugly?_

Gretchen seemed to notice as Isabella anxiously fretted with the hem of her cardigan, and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's gonna go great, Isabella," she encouraged, "Don't worry about it." Isabella half-heartedly smiled back, but still felt worried.

"Thanks, Gretchen," she replied, "I really hope so."

Just then, the doorbell rang, right on time. Isabella froze, suddenly not wanting to answer it. Why was this any different from being with Phineas anywhere else? She only began walking downstairs when she was pushed out of her room by her friends, who were getting anxious.

Isabella gulped, used her phone screen's reflection to check her appearance yet again, and then nervously opened the door to be met with her knight in shining armor, Phineas. He was wearing a collared, leather tan jacket hanging open to reveal a white undershirt, along with navy blue jeans.

"Hi, Izzy!" he greeted childishly.

"Hi, P-Phin," she stuttered, giving him a shy smile as she slipped on a light, furry lavender coat. Isabella couldn't believe that this was actually happening. She had been dreaming of dating Phineas for years, so the situation was almost unreal. She stepped up to him to give him a quick hug, but was surprised when he flipped her around, supporting her back with his arm. It was almost as if they were in a climactic dance pose.

"You look beautiful," he whispered confidently, and without any thought, he brushed away her newly disheveled hair and began to lean down towards her. She blushed, as always, then closed her eyes and craned her up as well, but right when they were about to touch, Phineas noticed something in the upstairs window. Smirking, he pulled away, leaving Gretchen and Adyson pouting, the latter holding her presumably recording phone.

"Not gonna happen!" he shouted up to them, pulling Isabella away to the car. She flushed a shade of pink as Phineas opened the door for her, and then got in.

"Are you okay?" he asked when he got in the driver's seat, noticing her obvious worry. Isabella instinctively nodded, trying to calm herself. Phineas reached over and held her hand anyways, tracing little circles over her palm.

"We're gonna have so much fun, Izzy," he told her warmly, smiling. Phineas's attitude, as always, completely dissipated any sense of stress or sadness. In only a few moments, Isabella was soon enthusiastic and feeling at-home once again.

Isabella's anticipation about their activity had built up all throughout the week, so she could hardly contain herself as they drove. Her conversation came out as excited spurts, occasionally making Phineas laugh.

Isabella's eyes glinted with excitement as they parked next to a big, snowy park, with a classic frozen over lake in the middle. It was littered with ice skaters performing complicated tricks over the shining ice, and a few kids building snowmen on the sides. She had expected some crazy invention or activity, which would also be great, but this was even better. She only got more excited when Phineas opened her door, holding a pink and a white pair of ice skates.

"I thought you might like it simple, so I chose ice-skating," he explained. Now it was Phineas's turn to look nervous. "You _do_ like it, right?" he asked for confirmation.

"Yes! Yes, it looks amazing!" she exclaimed, graciously accepting the pink set of skates. As they walked down to the lake, there were a few other people skating, but it wasn't crowded, and the weather was sunny and warm for the winter, making it a perfect day.

As they sat on a natural log bench to put on their skates, Isabella 'innocently' asked Phineas to help her get on her skates. He happily complied, gently pushing her feet into the soles, and then tying up the laces for her. She was satisfied for a moment - and then wanted more babying.

"Can you teach me how to skate, Phin?" Isabella asked, tilting her head to one side and giving him puppy dog eyes. Now it was Phineas's turn to blush.

"Uh, s-sure, Izzy," he responded, carefully leading her onto the ice. She feigned stumbling, but he caught her, moving his hand around her waist to keep her stabilized. Isabella sighed; she would never get used to his touch. They skated a few loops around the lake, Phineas trying to teach Isabella the basic strides and how to skate in-sync with him, while she purposely did a poor job.

"Wait a second," he realized after a few more minutes, "Weren't you playing ice-hockey with us a few years ago? And I thought you were skating during S'winter, too!" Isabella tried to shrug, but Phineas had caught on.

"Busted!" he yelled, letting go of her and skating away. Deciding to toy with him just a little longer, she dramatically tripped over her skates and fell down, letting herself spin once or twice on the slippery ice. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she watched Phineas's joking expression quickly fill with horror and guilt. As fast as he had left, he came back, skidding to a halt right beside her.

"Izzy, I'm so sorry!" he apologized, trying to help her up, "I thought you could skate by yourself! Did I hurt you?" She sniffed and shook her head once, allowing herself to be nearly picked up.

"I feel terrible," he said, looking down at the ground. Isabella couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, then broke away from him and quickly skirtedaway, doing a little twirl in the air as she went. He stared at her with a gaping mouth, but then it turned into a smile as he realized what had happened.

Phineas tried skating up to her, but she swerved behind him at the last moment, retreating to a different part of the lake. He looked at her in confusion, but then started to grin, and skated towards her at a high speed. She lazily sidestepped him, but this time, she underestimated his pace, and he just managed to nab her pinky finger. Then, before she could react, he was halfway across the lake, beginning to laugh as well. Pretty soon, they had a fun game of tag going, Isabella occasionally performing perfect spinning tricks as she fled from him, and Phineas awkwardly trying to recreate them.

Deciding to make it even more fun, Isabella stopped next to a snowdrift and grabbed a handful of snow, packing it into a snowball behind her back. Then, as Phineas came straight at her, she leaned back, and threw it directly into his face! Phineas skidded to a stop, wiping snow off his nose, while Isabella began laughing.

"Do I still throw like a girl, Phi-!" she was cut short when a snowball came right back into her face. Apparently Phineas had the same idea. Now it was his turn to laugh as he skated away for more ammunition. Over the next ten minutes, they continued their high-paced snowball fight, Isabella throwing remarkably better than when they were supposed to be stargazing. They had probably started to annoy the more professional skaters, but it was just too much fun to care.

As Isabella skated backwards and hurled yet more snowballs at her pursuer, she watched as he suddenly sped up even more.

"Isabella! Look out for that-!"

Isabella skated right into a massive snow drift, once again being covered in white fluff. Only seconds later, Phineas came crashing in as well, landing right next to her. She smiled at him widely with sparkling eyes, her laughs slowly dieing down into giggles from the snowball fight. He smiled back and moved closer, but then his face transformed into a frown. They dusted the snow off themselves, but otherwise remained lying down, very close in proximity.

"That was mean," he muttered in mock-sadness, "I thought you were hurt."

"Oh, I'm _so _sorry, Phin, I feel _horrible_!" she replied over-soothingly, laying a hand on his shoulder, "Is there _anything at all _I can do for you?"

"No, _nothing_ could make me feel better," he said sarcastically, turning on his side and resting one hand on her waist in return.

"Are you sure?" she pressed, inching her head closer to his. Her lips grazed his, teasing before the moment to come.

"Well I _do _feel a little cold," he continued, running his other hand through her hair.

"So do I, my lips are _so_ cold," Isabella commented flirtatiously, moving her other hand to his shoulder, "I think they might be turning blue."

"Maybe I could help you out with that," he whispered a painfully far distance away. Isabella finally lost her cool and began blushing up a storm, but it didn't matter, because she instantly smashed her lips into his. She sighed into him and started wrapping her arms around his neck, letting her eyes slide closed, and anxiously waited for him to press her against his chest. Instead, however, he quickly pushed her away, grinning evilly. Isabella desperately tried re-closing the space between them, but he held her firmly down.

"But... more..." she whimpered, and he laughed, finally standing up. Phineas helped her up as well, avoiding another tempting kiss, and quickly undid both his and her skates.

"Now you're just being mean," she chided, and she shot him a mock-dirty look as she got on her shoes.

"Well I guess I'd better make it up to you, then," he replied, "How 'bout we go get some dinner?" Isabella squealed and rapidly nodded her head, excited that the date wasn't over yet … even though she _would_ get more of that later. It was already getting dark out, too, so they probably needed to go.

Phineas had planned out the date well, and they were conveniently within walking distance of the restaurant. So, after storing the skates in the car, they walked hand-in-hand through the park and across a street, and there was Weavers. Weavers had been a favorite among the gang for several years, and they used to stop by on special occasions if their parents were feeling generous. It was just right for the date; not overly fancy and expensive, but a nice sit-down place nonetheless.

After they walked in, Isabella had to use the restroom, so Phineas set about getting them a place to sit. After the greeter led him to a table-for-two, he began examining the extensive menu, but was interrupted by a high, very bored sounding voice.

"Hello and welcome to Weavers, I'm Jessica and I'll be your serv- Phineas?" the monotone ceased as the waitress recognized him. Phineas looked up, and to his astonishment, Jessica stood there, ready to take his order!

"Oh hi, Phinny!" she flirted, immediately taking the seat opposite to him. "I hope you weren't too disappointed from missing out on that dance with me," she continued, smiling at him almost possessively and leaning forward. Jessica had obviously missed the news that Phineas and Isabella were now a thing, or maybe she was just ignoring it.

Phineas edged to the back of his seat, not interested in catching up with her, let alone while on a date.

"Hello, Jessica," he greeted politely, "Aren't you supposed to be working right now?"

"Well duh..." she replied a little rudely, "But the manager's too old to notice. Or too dumb. Mind if I join you?" Phineas had been overly tolerant on his original date with Jessica, but he wasn't letting it go this time. He could not endure even another five minutes of gossip from her, let alone while on a different date.

"Actually," he started, standing up, "I _do _mind." Jessica looked startled, but at just the right moment before she could respond, Isabella happened to return from the bathroom. She looked between Phineas and the sitting waitress in confusion, wondering what she was doing there.

Jessica was thinking the exact same thing.

"What is _she_ doing here?" she seethed to Phineas, loud enough for Isabella to hear, "Tell that goody-two-shoes to get out of here!"

Isabella was utterly confused. What were they talking about, or maybe arguing about? Why was she sitting down at what was presumably their table? Then it dawned on her. Jessica had been on a date with Phineas before, and she was trying to steal him back! Her hands balled up into fists and she stared daggers at her competition.

As for Phineas, he had had enough. Even if he had only been 'talking' with her for a minute, Jessica's blatant insults towards all his friends, _especially_ Isabella, had to stop.

"Excuse me," Phineas retorted quite sourly, which seldom happened, "I am on a date with that 'goody-two-shoes', and I do _not_ appreciate you badmouthing her, or any of my friends like that. Could we please sit down now?" As he talked, he moved next to Isabella and put an arm around her, almost as if to protect her.

Jessica was flabbergasted. What was he talking about? And why was he touching her? Nobody, and she meant _nobody_ turned Jessica down like that! She didn't know what to do, this had never happened before.

"Phineas!" she shrieked, "Get your arm off of her!"

"Why?" he inquired quite simply, trying not to overreact.

"Because I said so!"

"But she's my best friend, and maybe even more," he answered steadily, squeezing Isabella a little as he said so. To prove his point, he leaned down, and planted a light kiss on her forehead, making her feel a little dizzy with pleasant surprise.

Isabella watched as the fire slowly died in Jessica's eyes as she glared at them.

"You're just like the rest of them," she spat out, addressing Phineas. "I thought I could change you, but you're just as dull-headed as the rest of those _Fireside Girls_."

Isabella wanted to defend Phineas with a snide comeback, but before she did, Jessica spun around and walked out of the restaurant while on the job. The two stood there, unsure of what to do.

After Jessica left, a nicer waiter came to serve them instead. They each ordered a modest meal, and then Isabella turned to Phineas, wanting an explanation.

"How exactly was your date with Jessica 'interesting'?" she questioned, remembering his reluctance to discuss the matter on Christmas Eve. Phineas sighed; he didn't like to talk negatively of others, but Isabella had just seen her in action, so she deserved to know.

"It was worse than I said before. We were talking at dinner, but she kept making fun of you and the gang. I tried to change the subject so many times, but she wouldn't stop."

Isabella's eyes widened slightly, but she was sort of expecting that anyways.

"And then there was the movie," he continued, "She kept … touching me throughout the entire thing and trying to cuddle, even though I asked her to stop several times. It was _not _fun."

"So... you _don't _like to cuddle?" Isabella asked, tensing slightly.

"Not with her," he replied, shaking his head. But then he realized the gist of Isabella's concern. "Oh, but I'm more than okay with cuddling with you!" he quickly clarified, making her lips twitch upwards.

About then, their dishes came out. One of the reasons the gang liked Weavers so much was because of their preparation and serving time. Of course, Isabella knew that Phineas and Ferb would be unrealistically faster than their already unrealistically fast service.

Isabella continued to converse with Phineas as they ate their delectable meal, both of them deciding to leave the subject of Jessica alone. She loved how, even after becoming much more than friends, they could still talk freely about anything and everything, and even more so while on a date. She had been concerned that it might get awkward, but it was just as easy, if not easier to talk and flirt. She couldn't believe that she had actually felt worried when he picked her up.

Isabella grew a little sad as she finished the last bite of her meal, because that meant they would have to go home now. She had been out with Phineas for several hours now, and most people would be about ready to go, but she felt that she could spend forever with him.

After Phineas paid for the meal, they got their coats on again and started heading back to the car. It was completely dark out, and had been for a while, but Isabella felt safe and secure with Phineas walking right next to her in the still warm air.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked with concern, noticing her slight depression. He stopped walking and laid a hand on her shoulder supportively.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing..."

"No, it's not. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, not at all! I just … I don't want this day to end yet..."

Phineas gave Isabella a caring smile, then led her to a nearby park bench and sat them down, dusting off its light coating of snow beforehand.

"Izzy, you don't have to worry about that," he told her, smiling. "I've had a great time taking you out today, and I don't want it to end either, but what's to say the next one isn't gonna be even better? We can go on as many dates as you want, that I can promise you."

Isabella smiled. No matter what Phineas said, he would always make her feel warm and happy.

"Okay," she replied, feeling a little more optimistic.

"Besides, you're going to be at our house for New Year's Eve, right?"

Isabella thought for a second, then nodded.

"Yeah... We can start the new year together..." She sighed in contentment, still having to remind herself this was real every once in a while. Isabella figured that they should stand up to head for the car, but neither of them made a move. They sat there in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. They listened to a whistling breeze pass through the otherwise silent park, and watched as little snowflakes began to float down from the sky. Everything was just right.

After a couple minutes, Isabella decided that they really did need to get home, so she reluctantly began to stand up. However, as she was doing so, she interrupted by a huge crack of noise and light. Isabella stifled a shriek and grabbed onto Phineas for dear life, only to find him staring up at the sky in wonder. She followed his gaze until she realized where the loud bang had come from.

Isabella watched as the remains of a brilliant red firework slowly fell back to Earth and dissipated into nothing. Right after, another projectile flew into the air and exploded, this time releasing a flashy blue crackle effect that lit up the night sky. This one didn't scare Isabella as much, and she felt herself relaxing her grip on Phineas and making herself comfortable. She didn't even try to move away, and in a moment, she was sitting nearly on his lap, her legs over his.

The couple watched as another blue, green, and then trio of gold fireworks flared up and echoed through the dark night, making vibrant scenes in the air above. Phineas adjusted his position so that he was holding her, so that their heads were just touching as they stared up.

Isabella began to lose track of time as she watched the light show, fascinated by the constant projectiles that exploded in the night sky, creating dazzling shapes, colors, and sounds. There were spirals, circles, stars, hearts, and more, but her favorite was a big burst of orange and pink triangles.

The show ended as a finale of green, blue, and golden explosions fizzed and crackled before slowly fading away into blackness. Phineas and Isabella continued staring up into space, entranced. When no more light or bursts came from above, they slowly turned to stare at each other, but said nothing.

Isabella knew in the back of her mind that they had should have left quite some time ago, but she just felt so comfortable, and intrigued by the lights, that she didn't want to move. Phineas was probably feeling the same way, judging by his lack of leaving. She melted into him even more, resting her head on his chest and listening to the steady drum of his heartbeat while he caressed the small of her back.

_Okay, we NEED to leave right now,_ the small, rational part of her brain shouted at her for the umpteenth time. Isabella inwardly groaned, and was about to move to get up, when she was interrupted by a voice over a loudspeaker. It was distant, probably somewhere in the city, but she could still make out the words.

"Okay folks, we're up to the last moments! There's barely one minute until the new year, let's start this countdown!" The projected voice rang across the park they had all to themselves. In disbelief, Isabella moved away just enough from Phineas to face him and pulled out her phone to check the time, and her suspicions were confirmed as it read 11:59.

In the distance, they could hear the chant of people just beginning to count down to the near year.

_59 … 58 … 57_

"How long have we been out here?" Isabella whispered incredulously.

"I don't know, I didn't think it was that long," Phineas replied, "But we're not gonna make it back on time at this point."

Isabella felt like she should have been sad for missing the party, but she was actually ok with it. She pondered for a moment, looking back on the year. It had been amazing, especially the last few days, but now she could start off a new, even better one.

_41 … 40 … 39_

"We get to start a new year, Phin, together," Isabella commented, starting to smile at him.

"Yes Izzy, yes we do."

_32 … 31 … 30_

Thinking about the boy next to her, she suddenly began to feel overwhelmed with joy. He, against all odds, had discovered her secret, acted on it, and now they were happily together. She probably wouldn't have ever built up enough courage to confess her love to him, but he had done it in only a week. She needed to tell him, at least once more.

"Phin, I know I've told you already, but..."

"But?" He pressed when she paused.

"I love you Phineas, I love you so much."

_18 … 17 … 16_

He turned to smile back at her, and wiped away a small tear droplet that had formed in her eye.

"I love you too, Izzy. More than you can imagine."

More tears came to Isabella's eyes and she beamed back at him, her eyes glued to his. She always swooned whenever he repeated himself, but this felt different, even more meaningful than before.

_9 … 8 … 7_

Her heart began to pound in her chest, and she felt a similar throb coming from Phineas. He gingerly tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

_6 … 5 … 4_

"It's time for a new year. Will you face it with me, Izzy?" he asked, pulling her closer to him.

"Yes," she replied with force, trying not to break out crying. "Happy New Year, Phineas."

_3 … 2 … 1_

"Happy New Year, Isabella." he whispered, and then his lips were softly pressed against hers in a passionate kiss. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders in response and pushed deeper against him, both of them slowly closing their eyes. They ignored the cheer and the ring of the bell as the new year began, ignored the peaceful surroundings and burst of new fireworks, and ignored all the stress and challenges that life presented. Because now, they were ready to endure anything, together. In paradisiacal, everlasting, absolutely perfect...

_Bliss._

* * *

**I love that ending :D **

**Thank you all so much for all the support and popularity this story has gotten, it's all because of you! If you enjoyed this story at all, or have found problems, and even if you don't have an account, please leave me a review! Even a smiley face would suffice :) I want to know what you guys want from me in the future, or if people really read this :)**

**I'd also love it if you favorited this story, especially if you've been a follower this whole time! But only if you truly did enjoy reading!**

**…**

**Disabled/Guest Review Responses:**

**woodland5: Although I don't possess the same attraction to Carl, thanks XD**

**guest: Thanks :)**

**(Wow, the other 22 were all registered users! Thanks for logging in! (And don't worry, woodland5, I like your reviews too!))**

**…**

**Oh, and I finally spell-checked a chapter too! Once again, thank you for all your positive feedback. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!**


End file.
